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News Release Information

16-2396-ATL
Friday, December 30, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Atlanta Area Employment – November 2016

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.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, United States and the Atlanta metropolitan area, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands), November 2016
Area and Industry
 
Nov
2015
Sept
2016
Oct
2016
Nov
2016 (P)
Nov 2015 to Nov 2016 (P)
Net changePercent change

United States

 

Total nonfarm

144,122145,052145,920146,3992,2771.6

Mining and logging

776688691692-84-10.8

Construction

6,6546,8866,8916,8131592.4

Manufacturing

12,31712,30712,28912,273-44-0.4

Trade, transportation, and utilities

27,59627,28127,46527,9193231.2

Information

2,7672,7722,7762,77360.2

Financial activities

8,1838,3298,3368,3371541.9

Professional and business services

20,08120,45120,60120,6695882.9

Education and health services

22,56922,73823,05023,1455762.6

Leisure and hospitality

15,03415,74815,51815,3272931.9

Other services

5,6345,7005,7155,709751.3

Government

22,51122,15222,58822,7422311.0

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area

 

Total nonfarm

2,643.72,668.02,692.72,711.968.22.6

Mining and logging

1.51.41.41.4-0.1-6.7

Construction

111.0117.0118.6117.66.65.9

Manufacturing

160.8161.2161.3162.51.71.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

601.0593.0598.7610.29.21.5

Information

88.088.288.589.41.41.6

Financial activities

164.5168.2168.9169.95.43.3

Professional and business services

489.5497.9507.2510.220.74.2

Education and health services

323.3329.5333.1333.810.53.2

Leisure and hospitality

277.2286.3286.5286.79.53.4

Other services

98.095.195.695.7-2.3-2.3

Government

328.9330.2332.9334.55.61.7
(p) Preliminary

 

Table 2. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, 12 largest metropolitan areas, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)
Area and Industry
 
Nov
2015
Sept
2016
Oct
2016
Nov
2016 (P)
Nov 2015 to Nov 2016 (P)
Net changePercent change

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

 

Total nonfarm

2,643.72,668.02,692.72,711.968.22.6

Mining and logging

1.51.41.41.4-0.1-6.7

Construction

111.0117.0118.6117.66.65.9

Manufacturing

160.8161.2161.3162.51.71.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

601.0593.0598.7610.29.21.5

Information

88.088.288.589.41.41.6

Financial activities

164.5168.2168.9169.95.43.3

Professional and business services

489.5497.9507.2510.220.74.2

Education and health services

323.3329.5333.1333.810.53.2

Leisure and hospitality

277.2286.3286.5286.79.53.4

Other services

98.095.195.695.7-2.3-2.3

Government

328.9330.2332.9334.55.61.7

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH

 

Total nonfarm

2,684.72,709.02,727.32,732.247.51.8

Mining, logging, and construction

110.6117.3116.6114.94.33.9

Manufacturing

191.2188.6188.7189.7-1.5-0.8

Trade, transportation, and utilities

425.2421.2423.7427.62.40.6

Information

76.878.377.877.60.81.0

Financial activities

183.7188.3188.8189.35.63.0

Professional and business services

461.6466.0469.8470.28.61.9

Education and health services

565.6567.7576.4579.714.12.5

Leisure and hospitality

251.5268.5267.5259.98.43.3

Other services

101.4101.9102.2103.31.91.9

Government

317.1311.2315.8320.02.90.9

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

 

Total nonfarm

4,660.14,677.04,701.64,698.037.90.8

Mining and logging

1.61.51.51.5-0.1-6.3

Construction

173.7182.0183.0177.74.02.3

Manufacturing

413.6409.7411.0411.7-1.9-0.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities

951.9934.8940.7955.23.30.3

Information

83.480.580.180.1-3.3-4.0

Financial activities

295.1288.7289.0288.6-6.5-2.2

Professional and business services

814.0838.5845.1837.223.22.9

Education and health services

716.4705.5715.5719.12.70.4

Leisure and hospitality

451.9480.0473.5464.012.12.7

Other services

196.3197.8197.9197.71.40.7

Government

562.2558.0564.3565.23.00.5

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

 

Total nonfarm

3,475.33,545.13,569.53,590.1114.83.3

Mining, logging, and construction

201.7205.0206.4205.43.71.8

Manufacturing

262.3259.7260.3261.3-1.0-0.4

Trade, transportation, and utilities

749.7764.2773.0783.734.04.5

Information

80.982.081.581.70.81.0

Financial activities

281.4293.3294.3295.013.64.8

Professional and business services

573.4592.8593.6598.425.04.4

Education and health services

428.1436.3440.9441.413.33.1

Leisure and hospitality

360.5371.9371.2370.710.22.8

Other services

117.8120.0120.7121.53.73.1

Government

419.5419.9427.6431.011.52.7

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

 

Total nonfarm

3,015.43,004.43,025.83,031.516.10.5

Mining and logging

95.186.986.487.2-7.9-8.3

Construction

225.8216.6219.4213.1-12.7-5.6

Manufacturing

237.8230.0231.5230.6-7.2-3.0

Trade, transportation, and utilities

619.5618.1623.2630.010.51.7

Information

31.530.430.731.2-0.3-1.0

Financial activities

153.3152.4153.6153.2-0.1-0.1

Professional and business services

469.3463.3466.6465.4-3.9-0.8

Education and health services

376.1387.9390.1390.614.53.9

Leisure and hospitality

307.7323.0320.0324.416.75.4

Other services

107.1106.7105.4104.5-2.6-2.4

Government

392.2389.1398.9401.39.12.3

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

 

Total nonfarm

5,928.55,958.86,000.76,032.1103.61.7

Mining and logging

4.64.04.04.0-0.6-13.0

Construction

223.8229.2228.8224.91.10.5

Manufacturing

514.3510.8509.3509.6-4.7-0.9

Trade, transportation, and utilities

1,108.21,087.41,093.01,116.58.30.7

Information

231.3232.6237.1236.85.52.4

Financial activities

333.6338.4339.0338.24.61.4

Professional and business services

903.5916.1917.6920.517.01.9

Education and health services

966.7980.8996.2997.030.33.1

Leisure and hospitality

701.2727.7723.4723.021.83.1

Other services

202.5204.2205.2206.03.51.7

Government

738.8727.6747.1755.616.82.3

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

 

Total nonfarm

2,564.12,565.92,586.62,626.061.92.4

Mining and logging

0.60.60.60.60.00.0

Construction

118.1122.0121.7121.53.42.9

Manufacturing

85.384.384.484.7-0.6-0.7

Trade, transportation, and utilities

598.0592.8596.5613.015.02.5

Information

48.747.648.048.70.00.0

Financial activities

178.0181.9181.5181.43.41.9

Professional and business services

418.7423.1428.0434.315.63.7

Education and health services

373.3376.2379.6383.410.12.7

Leisure and hospitality

311.7309.1314.6323.211.53.7

Other services

123.2121.2122.9125.01.81.5

Government

308.5307.1308.8310.21.70.6

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

 

Total nonfarm

9,522.49,523.39,601.49,639.7117.31.2

Mining, logging, and construction

390.5398.4394.1389.0-1.5-0.4

Manufacturing

370.7373.3371.9369.9-0.8-0.2

Trade, transportation, and utilities

1,760.51,733.71,746.11,777.116.60.9

Information

285.3288.9288.4288.73.41.2

Financial activities

770.3771.5767.2767.4-2.9-0.4

Professional and business services

1,516.61,516.51,528.81,530.614.00.9

Education and health services

1,823.71,812.31,849.31,867.343.62.4

Leisure and hospitality

866.7923.3906.7890.323.62.7

Other services

412.9420.5420.8422.49.52.3

Government

1,325.21,284.91,328.11,337.011.80.9

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

 

Total nonfarm

2,875.42,879.22,905.02,919.043.61.5

Mining, logging, and construction

114.4118.1117.2117.32.92.5

Manufacturing

181.2184.2183.3182.91.70.9

Trade, transportation, and utilities

531.6523.3528.5536.95.31.0

Information

46.546.045.845.8-0.7-1.5

Financial activities

209.2211.8211.6211.72.51.2

Professional and business services

460.2465.8467.1472.612.42.7

Education and health services

619.4613.6624.5629.810.41.7

Leisure and hospitality

249.7263.8264.4257.37.63.0

Other services

118.3118.2119.3119.91.61.4

Government

344.9334.4343.3344.8-0.10.0

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

 

Total nonfarm

1,979.01,967.41,987.82,000.521.51.1

Mining and logging

3.33.33.33.30.00.0

Construction

102.5109.4109.6107.75.25.1

Manufacturing

121.4118.5118.4119.0-2.4-2.0

Trade, transportation, and utilities

395.4383.7389.7397.62.20.6

Information

37.637.538.338.00.41.1

Financial activities

169.6174.0175.4175.15.53.2

Professional and business services

336.8328.1331.9336.3-0.5-0.1

Education and health services

290.7297.0299.2299.08.32.9

Leisure and hospitality

211.7212.5215.9219.47.73.6

Other services

65.964.264.362.6-3.3-5.0

Government

244.1239.2241.8242.5-1.6-0.7

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

 

Total nonfarm

2,304.12,334.82,352.92,360.756.62.5

Mining and logging

1.00.90.90.9-0.1-10.0

Construction

114.4124.4123.3124.09.68.4

Manufacturing

127.8129.2126.8126.6-1.2-0.9

Trade, transportation, and utilities

380.5374.3377.2388.37.82.0

Information

86.586.386.886.70.20.2

Financial activities

129.5130.8131.9131.62.11.6

Professional and business services

473.1483.1486.0483.810.72.3

Education and health services

335.3344.9350.1349.814.54.3

Leisure and hospitality

258.5269.7272.3268.39.83.8

Other services

83.683.383.683.80.20.2

Government

313.9307.9314.0316.93.01.0

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

 

Total nonfarm

3,219.53,257.53,279.23,285.065.52.0

Mining, logging, and construction

155.5159.7159.0157.31.81.2

Manufacturing

54.153.754.454.70.61.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

412.6412.5415.7422.910.32.5

Information

76.375.174.174.3-2.0-2.6

Financial activities

154.6154.4153.7153.5-1.1-0.7

Professional and business services

732.6746.0754.1754.622.03.0

Education and health services

419.4429.3433.5431.512.12.9

Leisure and hospitality

311.5322.2321.7318.87.32.3

Other services

199.5202.1201.0200.91.40.7

Government

703.4702.5712.0716.513.11.9
(p) Preliminary

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, December 30, 2016