Total nonfarm employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 3,542,700 in September 2016, up 122,300 over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. From September 2015 to September 2016, local nonfarm employment rose 3.6 percent, above the national increase of 1.7 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that among the 12 largest metropolitan areas in the country, Dallas ranked first in the rate of job growth and second in the number of jobs added. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains the metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of two metropolitan divisions – separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 71 percent of the area’s workforce, added 101,300 jobs from September a year ago, an increase of 4.2 percent. The Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division, which accounted for the remaining 29 percent of the area’s workforce, added 21,000 jobs during the 12-month period, a gain of 2.1 percent.

Industry employment

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the metropolitan area’s largest supersector, added 35,600 jobs from September 2015. (See table 1 and chart 2.) The 4.9-percent rate of local job growth was more than three times the national rate of 1.4 percent. Locally, employment growth occurred in each of the three industry subsectors, led by a gain of 21,400 jobs in wholesale trade, a 10.5-percent rate of job gain. Retail trade added 10,300 jobs and transportation and utilities added 3,900 jobs.

The area’s professional and business services supersector added 27,000 jobs, a 4.8-percent gain over the year. A leading contributor to the supersector’s job growth was Dallas-Plano-Irving’s computer systems design and related services industry where employment increased by 7,500, an 11.5-percent rate of gain. Nationwide, employment in the professional and business services supersector increased at a rate of 3.0 percent over the year.

The local financial activities supersector added 14,700 jobs from September 2015, a 5.3-percent increase; nationally, the rate of job growth was 2.1 percent. Both local metropolitan divisions added jobs, although Dallas-Plano-Irving accounted for the bulk of the area’s job gain.

Employment in education and health services rose by 14,600 from September 2015. The local area’s rate of job growth in this supersector, 3.5 percent, compared to the national rate of 2.8 percent. The local gain was concentrated in Dallas-Plano-Irving, particularly in the ambulatory health care services industry which added 7,600 jobs, a 5.6-percent growth rate.

The area’s leisure and hospitality supersector employment rose by 14,000 from September 2015, with the majority of the job gain in the supersector’s largest industry, food services and drinking places (+12,900). While both local metropolitan divisions added jobs over the year, the rate of job growth in Dallas-Plano-Irving (5.1 percent) was nearly three times that of Fort Worth-Arlington (1.4 percent). Leisure and hospitality employment rose 3.9 percent in the combined Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area compared to 2.4 percent nationally.

Government employment in the metropolitan area increased by 12,400 from September 2015; more than three-fourths of the gain came from local government which added 9,500 jobs. Government employment rose 3.0 percent in the local area and 0.7 percent nationwide.

The local mining, logging, and construction supersector added 5,000 jobs over the year, an increase of 2.5 percent; this was the fastest annual rate of job growth since June 2015. The Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan division accounted for the largest share of the employment growth, up 3,600 jobs; specialty trade contractors added 3,400 of these jobs, a 9.6-percent gain since September 2015.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in September 2016. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 9 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.7 percent. Dallas had the fastest rate of job growth, 3.6 percent, followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell (2.9 percent) and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (2.6 percent). Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rates of job growth.  (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York-Newark-Jersey City added the largest number of jobs, 169,400, followed by Dallas (+122,300) and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (+113,600). Houston had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 20,100 jobs.

Professional and business services had the largest employment gain in six areas–Atlanta, Chicago, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, San Francisco, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Education and health services added the most jobs in four areas–Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles, New York, and Phoenix Mesa-Scottsdale.

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year losses in six areas–Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. New York was the only area to have no annual job losses in any supersector.

Metropolitan area employment data for October 2016 are scheduled to be released on Friday, November 18, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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 that 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 the 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 that 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 surveys, administrative data, and modeling 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 also are 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 specific 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 state CES data at the total nonfarm and supersector levels and for metropolitan area CES data. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available on the BLS Web site 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 February 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available online at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise Counties in Texas.

• The Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division includes Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall Counties in Texas.
• The Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division includes Hood, Johnson, Parker, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise Counties in Texas.

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.