Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,541,000 in February 2015, an increase of 110,900 or 4.6 percent, from a year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Atlanta area has recorded over-the-year employment gains each month for the last four and a half years. Nationally, nonfarm employment increased 2.4 percent from February 2014 to February 2015. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Industry employment

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, professional and business services recorded the largest employment gain from February 2014 to February 2015, adding 24,200 jobs. The area’s 5.5-percent growth in professional and business services employment was larger than the nationwide increase of 3.6 percent. (See chart 2.)

Trade, transportation, and utilities had the second largest increase in jobs locally, increasing by 24,100 from the previous February. Employment in this supersector grew 4.5 percent in Atlanta compared to 2.5 percent for the nation.

Two other supersectors in the Atlanta area gained at least 15,000 jobs from February 2014 to February 2015. Employment in leisure and hospitality increased 7.5 percent, adding 18,200 jobs, while education and health services grew 5.2 percent, or 15,600, over the previous year. The local rates of employment gain in these supersectors were more than double those for the nation.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2015. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with 7 exceeding the national average of 2.4 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was registered in Atlanta, up 4.6 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, up 4.1 percent. The slowest rate of expansion occurred in Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, up 1.4 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs, 162,300, since February 2014. Employment in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Dallas, and Atlanta increased by over 100,000. Boston experienced the smallest gain, adding 34,400 jobs over the 12-month period.

Education and health services registered the largest over-the-year employment gains in 5 of the 12 metropolitan areas from February a year ago—Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Professional and business services added the most jobs in in Atlanta, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.

Manufacturing recorded the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in five areas—Boston, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Los Angeles, New York, and Phoenix. Atlanta, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, and Miami experienced no annual job losses in any sector.

Metropolitan area employment data for March 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2012 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. The employment data are estimated using a "link relative" technique in which a ratio (link relative) of current-month employment to that of the previous month is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official estimators for approximately 39 percent of CES published series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimates.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey and administrative data and thus are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability—that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data are also subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on February 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes the counties of Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton in Georgia.

Additional information

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, United States and Atlanta metropolitan area, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)

Area and Industry	Feb 2014	Dec 2014	Jan 2015	Feb 2015 (P)	Change from Feb 2014 to Feb 2015 (P)
					Number	Percent
United States
Total nonfarm	136,257	141,484	138,663	139,566	3,309	2.4
Mining and logging	860	912	893	880	20	2.3
Construction	5,612	6,175	5,926	5,935	323	5.8
Manufacturing	12,019	12,302	12,214	12,235	216	1.8
Trade transportation and utilities	25,743	27,402	26,540	26,384	641	2.5
Information	2,707	2,775	2,737	2,770	63	2.3
Financial activities	7,879	8,059	8,018	8,029	150	1.9
Professional and business services	18,562	19,519	19,112	19,228	666	3.6
Education and health services	21,374	21,893	21,634	21,916	542	2.5
Leisure and hospitality	13,908	14,597	14,274	14,415	507	3.6
Other services	5,483	5,589	5,550	5,573	90	1.6
Government	22,110	22,261	21,765	22,201	91	0.4
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm	2,430.1	2,566.7	2,528.8	2,541.0	110.9	4.6
Mining and logging	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	0.0	0.0
Construction	95.7	102.3	100.4	103.4	7.7	8.0
Manufacturing	149.8	153.5	153.9	153.6	3.8	2.5
Trade transportation and utilities	539.2	582.2	565.9	563.3	24.1	4.5
Information	87.9	89.6	87.8	88.4	0.5	0.6
Financial activities	156.6	163.0	163.6	163.5	6.9	4.4
Professional and business services	443.1	472.5	462.6	467.3	24.2	5.5
Education and health services	300.9	313.9	313.6	316.5	15.6	5.2
Leisure and hospitality	241.6	264.1	258.2	259.8	18.2	7.5
Other services	92.3	96.3	96.0	95.6	3.3	3.6
Government	321.7	328.0	325.5	328.3	6.6	2.1
(P) Preliminary