Total nonfarm employment in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 3,042,900 in July 2017, up 54,200, or 1.8 percent, from one year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.5 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that the Houston area’s July increase was its 11^th consecutive month of over-the-year job gains. (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 Houston metropolitan area, 5 of 11 industry supersectors each added nearly 10,000 jobs or more from July 2016 to July 2017. Professional and business services added the largest number of jobs, up 16,600 during the period. Local job gains in the sector were concentrated in the employment services industry which had a 20.8-percent rate of job growth over the year. Houston’s professional and business services employment rose 3.5 percent since July 2016 compared to the national increase of 2.9 percent. (See table 1 and chart 2.)

Education and health services added 13,000 local jobs over the year, the second largest gain among Houston’s supersectors. Ambulatory health care services added the most jobs in this sector, up 7,900. The local supersector’s 3.4-percent rate of job growth compared to a national increase of 2.3 percent.

Manufacturing employment in Houston rose by 12,900 from July 2016 to July 2017, marking the fourth consecutive month of annual job growth, after 24 months of annual declines. Both the durable and non-durable manufacturing industries had employment increases over the year. The local area’s rate of manufacturing job growth, at 5.8 percent, compared to the national gain of 0.5 percent.

Houston’s leisure and hospitality supersector added 11,400 jobs over the year. The 3.6-percent local rate of job growth compared to the 2.1-percent increase for the nation. The local job gains were concentrated in the sector’s largest industry, food services and drinking places, which added 9,600 jobs during the period.

Government employment rose by 9,900 in the Houston area from July 2016 to July 2017. Local government educational services accounted for the bulk of the increase with a gain of 9,500 jobs. Government employment rose 2.6 percent locally over the year compared to a 0.5-percent national gain.

Two local sectors lost 4,600 jobs or more from July 2016 to July 2017. Construction had the largest job loss in the Houston area, falling by 8,300 from July a year ago. Job losses occurred in the three reporting industries: construction of buildings, heavy and civil engineering, and specialty trade contractors. Locally, employment in the construction supersector declined at a 3.8-percent pace compared to the 2.7-percent gain nationwide.

Trade, transportation, and utilities, Houston’s largest employer, lost 4,600 jobs from July 2016 to July 2017. Within the supersector, annual job losses occurred in all three industries: wholesale trade, retail trade, and transportation, warehousing, and utilities. Over the year, local employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector fell 0.8 percent compared to a 0.5-percent increase nationwide.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in July 2017. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 10 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.5 percent. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell had the fastest rate of job growth, up 3.2 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (+3.1 percent) and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (+3.0 percent). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rate of job growth, 0.7 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs over the year, 176,400, followed by Dallas, up 108,200. Chicago had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 33,100 jobs. Annual jobs gains in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 85,300 in Atlanta to 42,100 in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale.

Over the year, education and health services added the most jobs in seven areas: Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Miami, New York, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.

Metropolitan area employment data for August 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, September 15, 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 level 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, dated July 15, 2015. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller 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 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.

Table 2. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, 12 largest metropolitan areas, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)

Area and Industry	Jul. 2016	May 2017	Jun. 2017	Jul. 2017(p)	Jul. 2016 to Jul. 2017(p)
					Net change	Percent change
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
Total nonfarm	2,657.5	2,745.7	2,759.5	2,742.8	85.3	3.2
Mining and logging	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.8	0.1	5.9
Construction	117.8	122.4	122.5	121.9	4.1	3.5
Manufacturing	162.3	162.4	163.2	162.2	-0.1	-0.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	590.1	597.7	597.6	596.7	6.6	1.1
Information	96.1	99.8	99.3	99.7	3.6	3.7
Financial activities	167.3	173.0	174.8	173.6	6.3	3.8
Professional and business services	487.9	513.3	523.4	521.6	33.7	6.9
Education and health services	329.6	343.9	340.9	340.2	10.6	3.2
Leisure and hospitality	291.0	299.4	306.1	306.3	15.3	5.3
Other services	99.7	98.6	101.4	102.3	2.6	2.6
Government	314.0	333.4	328.5	316.5	2.5	0.8
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH
Total nonfarm	2,722.2	2,756.5	2,789.7	2,779.2	57.0	2.1
Mining, logging, and construction	114.6	111.5	114.0	116.5	1.9	1.7
Manufacturing	188.7	185.1	188.0	188.4	-0.3	-0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	424.4	423.2	431.2	428.0	3.6	0.8
Information	79.2	78.3	79.6	79.6	0.4	0.5
Financial activities	190.4	191.3	193.5	195.2	4.8	2.5
Professional and business services	478.7	480.8	486.4	489.4	10.7	2.2
Education and health services	564.3	586.9	587.6	587.2	22.9	4.1
Leisure and hospitality	282.3	273.4	283.5	289.7	7.4	2.6
Other services	105.6	103.9	107.8	109.4	3.8	3.6
Government	294.0	322.1	318.1	295.8	1.8	0.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
Total nonfarm	4,686.1	4,701.4	4,745.6	4,719.2	33.1	0.7
Mining and logging	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6	0.0	0.0
Construction	182.1	175.1	180.6	182.2	0.1	0.1
Manufacturing	416.5	413.3	418.2	417.1	0.6	0.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	945.4	939.1	947.8	946.5	1.1	0.1
Information	80.7	83.5	84.6	84.5	3.8	4.7
Financial activities	302.2	308.4	311.5	311.6	9.4	3.1
Professional and business services	829.5	823.7	836.4	838.3	8.8	1.1
Education and health services	705.2	728.2	720.1	709.8	4.6	0.7
Leisure and hospitality	489.6	478.0	494.3	493.0	3.4	0.7
Other services	195.9	195.4	198.0	198.5	2.6	1.3
Government	537.4	555.1	552.5	536.1	-1.3	-0.2
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Total nonfarm	3,503.0	3,612.1	3,624.0	3,611.2	108.2	3.1
Mining, logging, and construction	206.7	205.4	207.6	209.2	2.5	1.2
Manufacturing	266.2	266.3	268.8	270.6	4.4	1.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	749.0	762.2	764.8	765.1	16.1	2.1
Information	83.2	81.1	81.7	82.0	-1.2	-1.4
Financial activities	283.7	292.0	293.6	295.0	11.3	4.0
Professional and business services	582.3	604.8	609.1	611.8	29.5	5.1
Education and health services	429.2	443.9	440.3	438.9	9.7	2.3
Leisure and hospitality	372.0	390.2	397.1	396.0	24.0	6.5
Other services	124.2	126.7	128.2	128.1	3.9	3.1
Government	406.5	439.5	432.8	414.5	8.0	2.0
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
Total nonfarm	2,988.7	3,048.2	3,061.2	3,042.9	54.2	1.8
Mining and logging	86.7	86.9	86.3	87.3	0.6	0.7
Construction	218.4	216.2	215.1	210.1	-8.3	-3.8
Manufacturing	221.8	230.6	234.1	234.7	12.9	5.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	608.1	601.3	603.2	603.5	-4.6	-0.8
Information	33.1	32.0	32.2	32.4	-0.7	-2.1
Financial activities	156.2	156.2	156.2	157.9	1.7	1.1
Professional and business services	470.4	478.0	486.1	487.0	16.6	3.5
Education and health services	378.9	391.3	390.5	391.9	13.0	3.4
Leisure and hospitality	317.5	326.0	330.7	328.9	11.4	3.6
Other services	110.4	110.8	113.2	112.1	1.7	1.5
Government	387.2	418.9	413.6	397.1	9.9	2.6
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Total nonfarm	5,919.8	6,042.3	6,040.2	5,993.0	73.2	1.2
Mining and logging	4.1	3.9	4.0	4.0	-0.1	-2.4
Construction	233.2	239.6	243.8	250.6	17.4	7.5
Manufacturing	517.1	509.2	510.9	510.3	-6.8	-1.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,088.0	1,077.9	1,079.4	1,082.9	-5.1	-0.5
Information	250.2	257.5	256.0	253.1	2.9	1.2
Financial activities	340.0	337.8	337.9	339.4	-0.6	-0.2
Professional and business services	906.7	909.0	914.3	909.0	2.3	0.3
Education and health services	950.5	1,001.0	983.3	975.4	24.9	2.6
Leisure and hospitality	730.1	736.5	742.8	747.0	16.9	2.3
Other services	204.0	211.0	210.0	210.5	6.5	3.2
Government	695.9	758.9	757.8	710.8	14.9	2.1
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
Total nonfarm	2,543.6	2,656.3	2,625.9	2,620.4	76.8	3.0
Mining and logging	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.0	0.0
Construction	123.3	128.4	128.3	130.0	6.7	5.4
Manufacturing	87.2	88.1	87.0	87.0	-0.2	-0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	587.9	598.8	600.2	598.4	10.5	1.8
Information	49.4	49.1	49.0	49.0	-0.4	-0.8
Financial activities	176.4	174.9	175.6	176.3	-0.1	-0.1
Professional and business services	422.8	437.7	436.5	432.1	9.3	2.2
Education and health services	374.9	397.1	397.5	396.7	21.8	5.8
Leisure and hospitality	312.4	336.4	330.7	329.1	16.7	5.3
Other services	124.2	128.9	130.0	131.2	7.0	5.6
Government	284.4	316.2	290.4	289.9	5.5	1.9
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
Total nonfarm	9,560.1	9,678.7	9,775.6	9,736.5	176.4	1.8
Mining, logging, and construction	398.4	393.2	399.2	403.4	5.0	1.3
Manufacturing	368.2	363.9	366.7	365.2	-3.0	-0.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,713.7	1,719.7	1,735.1	1,719.3	5.6	0.3
Information	293.6	284.9	286.1	284.4	-9.2	-3.1
Financial activities	783.4	774.1	787.2	793.6	10.2	1.3
Professional and business services	1,536.7	1,543.0	1,571.4	1,575.8	39.1	2.5
Education and health services	1,817.2	1,932.4	1,910.7	1,893.8	76.6	4.2
Leisure and hospitality	946.6	928.5	976.1	984.7	38.1	4.0
Other services	419.7	423.0	430.7	429.2	9.5	2.3
Government	1,282.6	1,316.0	1,312.4	1,287.1	4.5	0.4
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Total nonfarm	2,857.9	2,926.3	2,941.6	2,912.5	54.6	1.9
Mining, logging, and construction	117.5	118.4	120.8	120.9	3.4	2.9
Manufacturing	180.1	176.8	178.4	178.6	-1.5	-0.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	520.0	524.1	528.3	525.5	5.5	1.1
Information	47.2	46.2	47.1	47.1	-0.1	-0.2
Financial activities	214.1	214.4	216.4	217.1	3.0	1.4
Professional and business services	464.3	473.0	479.9	478.2	13.9	3.0
Education and health services	609.1	639.6	627.7	628.1	19.0	3.1
Leisure and hospitality	270.9	271.2	283.1	284.3	13.4	4.9
Other services	120.8	119.8	122.0	120.2	-0.6	-0.5
Government	313.9	342.8	337.9	312.5	-1.4	-0.4
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
Total nonfarm	1,926.8	2,009.9	1,982.7	1,968.9	42.1	2.2
Mining and logging	3.3	3.2	3.2	3.2	-0.1	-3.0
Construction	107.3	109.0	109.0	111.1	3.8	3.5
Manufacturing	120.1	121.6	123.3	123.5	3.4	2.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	383.5	386.9	387.0	388.1	4.6	1.2
Information	36.6	36.4	35.3	34.8	-1.8	-4.9
Financial activities	175.2	181.7	181.2	180.6	5.4	3.1
Professional and business services	337.3	340.2	340.9	340.4	3.1	0.9
Education and health services	286.1	300.1	297.2	294.5	8.4	2.9
Leisure and hospitality	207.7	230.3	226.3	222.5	14.8	7.1
Other services	63.9	61.8	61.3	61.4	-2.5	-3.9
Government	205.8	238.7	218.0	208.8	3.0	1.5
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA
Total nonfarm	2,346.1	2,380.6	2,392.7	2,388.5	42.4	1.8
Mining and logging	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0
Construction	115.9	118.6	121.0	124.8	8.9	7.7
Manufacturing	133.7	131.4	132.0	133.0	-0.7	-0.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	376.7	375.5	376.8	378.7	2.0	0.5
Information	101.3	99.9	102.3	103.5	2.2	2.2
Financial activities	143.0	145.4	147.1	148.1	5.1	3.6
Professional and business services	476.0	470.8	473.9	472.9	-3.1	-0.7
Education and health services	334.9	349.6	347.3	345.0	10.1	3.0
Leisure and hospitality	271.2	273.3	279.3	280.4	9.2	3.4
Other services	86.5	87.4	88.5	89.2	2.7	3.1
Government	305.9	327.7	323.5	311.9	6.0	2.0
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Total nonfarm	3,238.4	3,285.0	3,312.6	3,321.5	83.1	2.6
Mining, logging, and construction	159.1	158.5	159.8	163.8	4.7	3.0
Manufacturing	54.2	53.6	54.3	54.3	0.1	0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	406.2	409.3	414.5	412.9	6.7	1.6
Information	74.9	70.8	71.6	71.6	-3.3	-4.4
Financial activities	159.3	157.2	158.6	159.1	-0.2	-0.1
Professional and business services	745.9	753.4	758.2	761.9	16.0	2.1
Education and health services	424.8	443.2	443.4	447.7	22.9	5.4
Leisure and hospitality	333.6	337.6	347.9	350.2	16.6	5.0
Other services	197.5	194.5	198.1	199.6	2.1	1.1
Government	682.9	706.9	706.2	700.4	17.5	2.6
(p) preliminary