Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,734,400 in February 2018, up 52,600, or 2.0 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Nationally, employment increased 1.6 percent from February 2017 to February 2018. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Atlanta area has had over-the-year employment gains each month since July 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.)

Industry employment

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, the trade, transportation, and utilities industry had the largest employment gain from February 2017 to February 2018, up 16,500, or 2.8 percent. Local job gains were concentrated in the sector’s largest industry—transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+10,900). Nationwide, employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities industry rose 0.9 percent from the previous February. (See chart 2.)

The Atlanta area’s education and health services supersector gained 12,900 jobs, up 3.8 percent from February 2017 to February 2018. The industry’s two subsectors both added jobs: health care and social assistance (+8,500) and education services (+4,400). Nationwide, education and health services employment rose 1.9 percent over the year.

Atlanta’s leisure and hospitality supersector added 11,200 jobs, a 4.0-percent increase. Local job growth for this industry sector was concentrated in food services and drinking places (+9,700). Employment nationwide in leisure and hospitality increased 2.1 percent from February a year ago.

Information was the only supersector in the Atlanta area to have employment decline from February 2017 to February 2018, down 6,900 (-7.0 percent). Nationally, employment in this supersector declined over the 12-month period, down 2.4 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2018. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 5 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.6 percent. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale had the fastest rate of job growth, 3.0 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, up 2.7 percent. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rate of job growth, 0.7 percent, followed by Boston-Cambridge-Nashua and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, at 0.9 percent each. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs over the year, 124,200, followed by Dallas (+96,000) and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (+93,400). Boston had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 24,500 jobs, followed by Philadelphia (+25,800). Annual gains in the remaining seven metropolitan areas ranged from 67,100 in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land to 30,600 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach.

Over the year, professional and business services had the largest employment gain in five areas—Boston, Houston, Miami, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Education and health services added the most jobs in three areas—New York, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.

The information supersector had the largest over-the-year losses in six areas. Dallas was the only metropolitan area to have no annual job losses in any supersector.

Metropolitan area employment data for March 2018 are scheduled to be released on Friday, April 20, 2018.

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 2017 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.

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 July 15, 2015. 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.