Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,667,800 in August 2016, an increase of 71,000 or 2.7 percent, from a year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Atlanta area had over-the-year employment gains of over 50,000 each month since July 2013. Nationally, nonfarm employment increased 1.7 percent from August 2015 to August 2016. (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, the trade, transportation, and utilities industry had the largest employment gain from August 2015 to August 2016, up 17,600 or 3.0 percent. Nationwide, employment in trade, transportation, and utilities rose 1.4 percent from the previous August. (See chart 2.)

Leisure and hospitality added 16,000 jobs since August 2015. The 5.8-percent rate of local job growth was more than double the national rate of 2.7 percent.

Professional and business services had the third largest increase in employment locally, gaining 15,800 jobs from the previous August. Employment in this supersector grew 3.3 percent in the Atlanta area compared to 2.7 percent for the nation.

Two other supersectors in the Atlanta area gained at least 7,500 jobs since last August — education and health services (+8,300) and construction (+7,700). The area’s 7.0-percent rate of job growth in construction was faster-paced than the 2.7-percent increase for the nation. The local rate of job growth in the education and health services supersector was 2.6 percent compared to the national rate of 2.8 percent.

Information and other services were the only supersectors in the Atlanta area that had employment declines greater than 1,000 from the previous August, down 2,000 (-2.2 percent) and 1,900 (-1.9 percent), respectively. Nationally, these supersectors added jobs over the 12-month period, with information advancing 1.0 percent and other services increasing 1.3 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2016. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of growth in 10 areas exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, 3.4 percent, followed by Atlanta at 2.7 percent. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area had the slowest rate of job growth, up 0.5 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs, 184,200, since August 2015. Employment in Dallas and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim also added over 100,000 jobs each. Houston had the smallest gain, adding 14,200 jobs over the 12-month period.

Education and health services recorded the most job growth in 5 of the 12 metropolitan areas from August a year ago—Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward. Professional and business services added the most jobs in three areas—Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.

Manufacturing recorded the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in six areas—Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami. New York and Philadelphia were the only areas to experience no job losses for any supersector since last August.

Metropolitan area employment data for September 2016 are scheduled to be released on Friday, October 21, 2016.

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.