Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,711,900 in November 2016, an increase of 68,200 or 2.6 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 had over-the-year employment gains of more than 50,000 each month since July 2013. Nationally, nonfarm employment increased 1.6 percent from November 2015 to November 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 professional and business services industry had the largest employment gain from November 2015 to November 2016, up 20,700 or 4.2 percent. Nationwide, employment in professional and business services rose 2.9 percent from the previous November. (See chart 2.)

Education and health services added 10,500 jobs in the local area since November 2015. Employment in this supersector grew 3.2 percent in the Atlanta area compared to 2.6 percent for the nation.

Leisure and hospitality had the third largest increase in employment locally, gaining 9,500 jobs from the previous November. The 3.4-percent rate of local job growth was faster-paced than the national rate of 1.9 percent.

Four other supersectors in the Atlanta area gained at least 5,000 jobs since last November — trade, transportation, and utilities; construction; government; and financial activities. The local rates of job growth were higher than the respective national rates in each of these four supersectors.

Other services was the only supersector in the Atlanta area that lost more than 1,000 jobs from the previous November—down 2,300 (-2.3 percent). Nationally, this supersector added jobs over the 12-month period, increasing 1.3 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in November 2016. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of growth in 7 areas exceeding the national average of 1.6 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, 3.3 percent, followed by Atlanta at 2.6 percent. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land 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, 117,300, since November 2015. The Dallas and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim areas also added over 100,000 jobs each. Houston had the smallest employment gain, adding 16,100 jobs over the 12-month period.

Two supersectors accounted for most of the job growth in the 12 largest areas. Professional and business services added the most jobs in five areas—Atlanta, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Education and health services added the most jobs in five other areas—Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in four areas—Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Metropolitan area employment data for December 2016 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

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 are available for metropolitan areas or metropolitan divisions upon request. Measures of sampling error for states down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at https://www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at https://www.bls.gov/sae/benchmark2016.pdf.

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 https://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 https://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 https://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.