Total nonfarm employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 3,567,200 in February 2017, up 119,300 over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. From February 2016 to February 2017, local nonfarm employment rose 3.5 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 second in both the rate of job growth and 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 91,500 jobs from February a year ago, an increase of 3.7 percent. The Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division, which accounted for the remaining 29 percent of the area’s workforce, added 27,800 jobs during the 12-month period, a gain of 2.8 percent.

Industry employment

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the metropolitan area’s largest supersector, added 26,100 jobs from February 2016. (See table 1 and chart 2.) The 3.6-percent rate of local job growth was more than three times the national rate of 1.0 percent. Locally, employment rose in each of the three industry subsectors, led by an increase of 13,300 jobs in transportation, warehousing, and utilities, a 7.4-percent rate of gain. Retail trade added 6,700 jobs and wholesale trade added 6,100 jobs.

The local professional and business services supersector added 24,100 jobs, a 4.2-percent gain over the year. The local increase was concentrated in Dallas-Plano-Irving, which added 22,000 jobs, a 4.8-percent gain. Nationwide, employment in the professional and business services supersector increased at a rate of 3.0 percent over the year.

Employment in the area’s leisure and hospitality supersector rose by 21,600 from February 2016, with the majority of the job gain in the sector’s largest industry, food services and drinking places (+15,600). The rate of job growth in the Dallas metropolitan area, at 6.1 percent, was more than three times the nationwide average (1.9 percent).

Employment in education and health services rose by 12,900 in the Dallas area from February 2016. The local area’s rate of job growth in this supersector, 3.0 percent, compared to the national rate of 2.5 percent. The area’s job gains were concentrated in Dallas-Plano-Irving, particularly in the ambulatory health care services industry which added 4,100 jobs.

The local financial activities supersector added 10,400 jobs from February 2016, a 3.7-percent increase; nationally, the rate of job growth was 2.3 percent. Both local metropolitan divisions added jobs, although Dallas-Plano-Irving accounted for the bulk of the area’s job gain. In Dallas-Plano-Irving, the largest over-the-year employment increase in this sector was in insurance carriers and related activities, which rose by 3,400, a 5.2-percent increase.

The mining, logging, and construction supersector in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington added 8,300 jobs from February 2016, a 4.2-percent rate of job gain. This sector has registered annual rates of local job growth of 4.0 percent or higher since October of 2016. Both metropolitan divisions added jobs, with strong gains in specialty trade contractors, which added 4,300 jobs in Dallas-Plano-Irving, a 6.6-percent gain since February 2016, and 2,100 jobs in Fort Worth-Arlington, a 5.8-percent increase.

Government employment in the metropolitan area increased by 7,500 from February 2016. The 1.8-percent rate of local job growth compared to the 0.9-percent gain nationally. More than half of the area’s government employment increase came from local government which added 4,200 jobs.

Employment in other services, the second-smallest supersector in the local area, rose by 5,800 from February 2016 to February 2017. The area’s annual employment increase of 4.9 percent compared to a national gain of 1.0 percent.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2017. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 7 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.7 percent. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell had the fastest rate of job growth, 3.6 percent, followed by Dallas at 3.5 percent. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rates of job growth at 0.6 and 0.9 percent, respectively. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York-Newark-Jersey City added the largest number of jobs, 145,800, followed by Dallas (+119,300) and Atlanta (+95,400). Houston had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 19,300 jobs.

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

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year losses in three areas–Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. Four areas experienced no annual job losses in any supersector–Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Metropolitan area employment data for March 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, April 21, 2017, 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.