Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,830,400 in August 2019, up 47,500, or 1.0 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased by 1.4 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations 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 34,000 jobs from August a year ago. Employment in the Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI and Elgin, IL Metropolitan Divisions, increased by 9,000 and 3,600 jobs, respectively.

Industry employment

In the greater Chicago metropolitan area, education and health services had the largest employment gain from August 2018 to August 2019, adding 20,700 jobs. The Chicago area’s 2.9-percent rate of job growth in education and health services was higher than the nationwide advance of 2.5 percent. (See chart 2.)

Trade, transportation, and utilities, Chicago’s largest supersector, added 9,300 jobs from August a year ago, the second-largest employment gain in the Chicago area. Local employment growth in the supersector was concentrated in the Chicago division, which added 8,400 jobs. The local rate of job growth was 1.0 percent compared to the national increase of 0.3 percent.

Leisure and hospitality also gained 9,300 jobs in the local area since last August. The 1.8-percent local rate of job growth matched that of the nation.

Two other local supersectors each gained more than 4,000 jobs: professional and business services (+5,200) and manufacturing (+4,100). The Chicago area’s professional and business services industry job growth rate of 0.6 percent was lower than the 2.1-percent national increase. Manufacturing employment increased 1.0 percent in the Chicago area, matching the national increase during the August 2018 to August 2019 period.

One notable decline in employment for the Chicago area occurred in the information supersector where 4,800 jobs were lost over-the-year, a 6.1 percent decline. Nationally, employment in the information supersector increased by 0.2 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Chicago was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2019. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 6 areas exceeding the national average of 1.4 percent. The largest over-the-year percentage gains in employment occurred in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (+3.1 percent), and in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (+2.7 percent each). Chicago and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria had the slowest rates of job growth (+1.0 percent each), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (+1.2 percent). (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York-Newark-Jersey City added the largest number of jobs over the year, 134,200, followed by Dallas with 115,800 jobs. Washington had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 33,600 jobs, followed by Boston-Cambridge-Nashua with 39,600 jobs. Annual gains in the remaining eight metropolitan areas ranged from 81,900 in Houston to 41,500 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.

Over the year, education and health services added the most jobs in seven areas: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, New York, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. Professional and business services added the most jobs in three areas: Dallas, Houston, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward. Leisure and hospitality was the leading job producer in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell and Washington.

The information sector recorded the largest employment loss in five areas since August 2018: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Phoenix. The trade, transportation, and utilities sector lost the most jobs in three areas: Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington.

 

Technical Note

Average prices are estimated from Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for selected commodity series to support the research and analytic needs of CPI data users. Average prices for electricity, utility (piped) gas, and gasoline are published monthly for the U.S. city average, the 4 regions, 9 divisions, 2 population size classes, 8 region/size-class cross-classifications, and the 23 largest local index areas. For electricity, average prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh) are published. For utility (piped) gas, average prices per therm are published. For gasoline, the average price per gallon is published. Average prices for commonly available grades of gasoline are published as well as the average price across all grades.

All eligible prices are converted to a price per normalized quantity. These prices are then used to estimate a price for a defined fixed quantity.  The average price per kilowatt-hour represents the total bill divided by the kilowatt-hour usage. The total bill is the sum of all items applicable to all consumers appearing on an electricity bill including, but not limited to, variable rates per kWh, fixed costs, taxes, surcharges, and credits. This calculation also applies to the average price per therm for utility (piped) gas.

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Table 1. Average prices for gasoline, electricity, and utility (piped) gas, Boston-Cambridge-Newton and the United States, December 2017 - December 2018, not seasonally adjusted

Year and month	Gasoline, all types, per gallon		Electricity per kilowatt hour		Utility (piped) gas per therm
	Boston area	United States	Boston area	United States	Boston area	United States
2017
December	2.532	2.521	0.214	0.136	1.455	1.042
2018
January	2.552	2.596	0.233	0.135	− (1)	1.048
February	2.592	2.632	0.227	0.135	1.623	1.077
March	2.592	2.631	0.228	0.135	1.720	1.054
April	2.731	2.795	0.225	0.134	1.720	1.044
May	2.909	2.963	0.219	0.136	1.142	1.050
June	2.939	2.970	0.219	0.139	1.143	1.042
July	2.906	2.930	0.213	0.139	1.128	1.038
August	2.893	2.919	0.216	0.139	1.128	1.055
September	2.891	2.930	0.216	0.138	1.128	1.030
October	2.862	2.945	0.216	0.136	1.128	1.023
November	2.790	2.733	0.225	0.134	1.499	1.020
December	2.651	2.479	0.225	0.135	1.538	1.085
Footnotes: (1) Data inadequate for publication