Total nonfarm employment in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,455,300 in February 2015, up 69,700 or 1.6 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 2.4 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that the Chicago metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment increases each month since October 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.)

The Chicago metropolitan area is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 80 percent of the area’s workforce, added 58,200 jobs from February a year ago. Employment in the Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division increased by 4,100, while employment in the Elgin Metropolitan Division and the Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division grew by 3,800 and 3,600, respectively, over the year.

Industry employment

The largest over-the-year employment increase in the Chicago metropolitan area in February 2015 was in trade, transportation, and utilities, up 16,600 or 1.9 percent. This industry supersector also accounted for the largest share of employment in the area. All four of Chicago’s metropolitan divisions posted employment gains in this supersector from February 2014, with the Chicago division adding 11,900 jobs over the year. Nationwide, employment in trade, transportation, and utilities rose 2.5 percent from the previous February. (See chart 2.)

Professional and business services, the second largest supersector in the Chicago area, added 15,500 jobs, a 2.0-percent gain from February a year ago. The Chicago division added 18,800 jobs; however, two divisions saw employment declines. The Elgin division lost 2,400 jobs in professional and business services and the Lake-Kenosha division shed 1,900 jobs. Nationally, employment in the professional and business services supersector increased 3.6 percent from February 2014.

Education and health services employment increased by 12,500, a 1.8-percent gain from February 2014 to February 2015. The Chicago division (up 11,800 or 2.1 percent) was responsible for the gains. Nationwide, employment in this supersector rose 2.5 percent from February a year ago.

Two other supersectors added more than 9,000 jobs over the year in the Chicago area. Leisure and hospitality employment increased by 9,500 or 2.3 percent and government employment rose by 9,400 or 1.7 percent. Nationwide, employment in leisure and hospitality increased 3.6 percent and government employment rose 0.4 percent from February 2014.

Construction added 5,900 jobs over the year in the Chicago area. The 4.5-percent annual job growth rate was the highest among the local area supersectors that posted annual employment gains. Nationwide, construction employment grew at a 5.8-percent pace.

Manufacturing lost 1,100 jobs in the local area from February 2014 to February 2015, the only supersector in the area to lose more than 1,000 jobs over the year. The employment decline was concentrated in the Chicago division which lost 3,000 jobs (-1.1 percent). The local area’s rate of job decline in this supersector, at 0.3 percent, compared to a 1.8-percent rate of job growth nationwide.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Chicago was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2015. All of these areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with seven exceeding the national average of 2.4 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Rosewell, up 4.6 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, at 4.1 percent. Boston-Cambridge-Nashua had the slowest rate of job growth, 1.4 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs, 162,300, since February 2014. Employment in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Dallas, and Atlanta also increased by over 100,000. Boston experienced the smallest gain, adding 34,400 jobs over the 12-month period.

Education and health services registered the largest over-the-year employment gains in 5 of the 12 metropolitan areas from February a year ago—Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Professional and business services added the most jobs in in Atlanta, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.

Manufacturing recorded the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in five areas—Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Phoenix. Three areas experienced no job losses for any supersector from last February—Atlanta, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, and Miami.

Metropolitan area employment data for March 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 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 2007 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 survey, 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 on February 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

• The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• The Elgin, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes DeKalb and Kane Counties.
• The Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Lake County in Illinois and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
• The Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana.

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 on line 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.