Total nonfarm employment for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,668,200 in October 2017, up 62,000, or 2.4 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Nationally, employment increased 1.4 percent from October 2016 to October 2017. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Miami metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment increases each month since August 2010. (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.)

The Miami area is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. All three divisions gained jobs over the year. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, the largest of the three divisions with 45 percent of the area’s employment, added 27,900 jobs from October a year ago. The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach Division, which accounted for 32 percent of Miami area’s workforce, added 25,200 jobs. The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach Division, with 23 percent of the area’s workforce, added 8,900 jobs over the 12-month period.

Industry employment

Education and health services had the largest over-the-year increase in the local area in October 2017, adding 18,000 jobs. All three metropolitan divisions gained jobs from October 2016, with the largest increase in the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan division (+9,800). The supersector’s local rate of job growth, at 4.7 percent, was more than double the 2.0-percent gain nationally. (See chart 2.)

Trade, transportation, and utilities had the second largest over-the-year increase in jobs locally from October 2016 to October 2017, growing by 8,600 or 1.5 percent. Both the Miami and Fort Lauderdale metropolitan divisions added jobs over the year. Nationwide, employment in this supersector was up 0.4 percent.

Three other supersectors gained at least 7,500 jobs over the year in the local area—professional and business services (+7,700), other services (+7,600), and construction (+7,500). The local rates of job growth for the other services and the construction industry sectors were faster than their respective national rates.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in October 2017. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 6 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.4 percent. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington had the fastest rate of job growth, up 2.7 percent, followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell and Miami, up 2.4 percent each. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rate of job growth, 0.5 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The Dallas area added the largest number of jobs over the year, 94,400, followed by New York-Newark-Jersey City, up 91,300. Chicago had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 21,700 jobs. Annual jobs gains in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 65,800 in Atlanta to 27,700 in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.

Over the year, education and health services added the most jobs in seven areas: Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Miami, New York, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, and San Francisco. Professional and business services gained the most jobs in four areas: Atlanta, Dallas, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.

Metropolitan area employment data for November 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, December 22, 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. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria.

For some employment series, the sample of establishments is very small or highly variable. In these cases, a model-based approach is used in estimation. These models use the direct sample estimates (described above), combined with forecasts of historical (benchmarked) data to decrease volatility in estimation. Two different models (Fay-Herriot Model and Small Domain Model) are used depending on the industry level being estimated. For more detailed information about each model, refer to the BLS Handbook of Methods.

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 the total private employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Measures of sampling error for more detailed series at the area and division level are available upon request. Measures of sampling error for states down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this release. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/sae/benchmark2017.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 July 15, 2015. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available online at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla. Metropolitan Statistical Area
includes the counties of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach in Florida.

• The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. Metropolitan Division includes Broward County in Florida.
• The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. Metropolitan Division includes Miami-Dade County in Florida
• The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray, Fla. Metropolitan Division includes Palm Beach County in Florida.

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 CES program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the BLS website 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.