Total nonfarm employment for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,672,300 in September 2018, up 107,700, or 4.2 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.7 percent. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Miami area has had over-the-year employment gains each month since August 2010, with one exception. (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 50,200 jobs from September a year ago. The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach Division, which accounted for 32 percent of Miami area’s workforce, gained 35,100 jobs, while the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach Division, with 23 percent of the workforce, added 22,400 jobs over the 12-month period.

Industry employment

Construction had the largest over-the-year increase in the local area in September 2018, adding 22,500 jobs, an 18.3-percent rate of job growth. All three metropolitan divisions gained construction jobs from September 2017 to September 2018. Nationally, the rate of job growth in construction was 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.)

Leisure and hospitality in the local area added 19,500 jobs from September 2017 to September 2018, a 6.5-percent gain. While all three divisions gained jobs, West Palm Beach (+7,200) had the fastest rate of job growth at 9.0 percent. Nationally, the rate of job growth in leisure and hospitality was 1.7 percent from September 2017 to September 2018.

Two other supersectors gained at least 17,000 jobs over the year in the local area. Professional and business services employment increased by 18,400 jobs, a 4.4-percent rate of job gain. Trade, transportation, and utilities added 17,000 jobs, a 2.9-percent increase. Nationally, employment in professional and business services was up 2.8 percent, and employment in trade, transportation, and utilities was up 1.2 percent since September 2017.

Government was the only supersector in the Miami area that lost jobs from the previous September, down 2,700 (-0.9 percent). Nationally, employment in this supersector was up 0.5 percent during the 12-month period.

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 September 2018. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 8 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.7 percent. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (+4.3 percent) and Miami (+4.2 percent) had the fastest rates of job growth. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (+0.7 percent) and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (+1.0 percent) and had the slowest rates of job growth. (See chart 3 and table 2.).

Houston added the largest number of jobs over the year, 128,700, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (+109,400). New York-Newark-Jersey City (+108,500) and Miami (+107,700) also had employment gains greater than 100,000 since September 2017. Chicago had the smallest employment gain of 35,100 jobs. Annual gains in the remaining seven metropolitan areas ranged from 78,200 in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale to 44,000 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.

Over the year, professional and business services added the most jobs in six areas: Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.

Four areas (Boston, Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix) had no supersector that lost more than 1,000 jobs over the year. Dallas and Washington had no annual job losses in any supersector.

Metropolitan area employment data for October 2018 are scheduled to be released on Friday, November 16, 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 nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.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/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this news 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 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 Beach, 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 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.