Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,752,700 in April 2018, up 41,300, or 1.5 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The national rate of job growth from the previous year was 1.6 percent. 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 April 2017 to April 2018, up 15,300, or 2.6 percent. Local job gains in the industry were concentrated in the transportation and warehousing sector (+9,800). Nationwide, employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities industry rose 1.1 percent from the previous April. (See chart 2.)

The Atlanta area’s education and health services supersector gained 13,200 jobs, up 3.9 percent from April 2017 to April 2018. The industry’s two subsectors both added jobs: health care and social assistance (+9,200) and education services (+4,000). Nationwide, education and health services employment rose 1.8 percent over the year.

Atlanta’s leisure and hospitality supersector added 9,300 jobs, a 3.2-percent increase over the 12-month period. Local job growth for this industry supersector was concentrated in food services and drinking places (+8,900). Employment nationwide in leisure and hospitality increased 1.7 percent from April a year ago.

Two other supersectors in the Atlanta area gained over 4,000 jobs since last April—construction (6,900) and government (4,400). The local 5.8 percent rate of job growth in the construction supersector exceeded the national rate of 3.8 percent.

Information and professional and business services were the only supersectors in the Atlanta area that had employment declines from the previous April, down 8,400 (-8.5 percent) and 2,500 (-0.5 percent), respectively. Nationally, employment in professional business services increased over the 12-month period, up 2.6 percent, while employment in information declined 0.9 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in April 2018. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 4 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.6 percent. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington had the fastest rate of job growth, up 3.4 percent, followed by Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, up 2.8 percent each. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rate of job growth, 0.7 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

Dallas added the largest number of jobs over the year, 119,900, followed by New York-Newark-Jersey City, up 113,500. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 25,500 jobs. Annual gains in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 94,100 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim to 34,700 in Chicago.

Over the year, professional and business services added the most jobs in five areas—Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward. Education and health services gained the most jobs in four areas: New York, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Phoenix, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.

Metropolitan area employment data for May 2018 are scheduled to be released on Friday, June 15, 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 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/web/laus/benchmark.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 at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes 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 Counties 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. 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.