Total nonfarm employment for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 9,573,600 in July 2016, up 199,700, or 2.1 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.7 percent. Martin Kohli, the Bureau’s chief regional economist, noted that the New York area’s July increase was its 72^nd consecutive over-the-year employment gain. (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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. All four divisions saw employment increases over the year. The New York-Jersey City-White Plains Metropolitan Division, with 72 percent of the area’s employment, gained 153,400 jobs since last July. The Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division, with 14 percent of local employment, added 16,600 jobs. The Newark Metropolitan Division, with 13 percent of the area’s jobs, expanded by 27,900. Employment in the Dutchess County-Putnam County Metropolitan Division, which made up the remaining 2 percent of local employment, gained 1,800 jobs over the year.

Industry employment

In the New York metropolitan area, education and health services had the largest employment gain from July 2015 to July 2016, expanding by 53,000 jobs. Over half the area’s job gains were in the healthcare and social assistance sector of New York-Jersey City-White Plains, which included a gain of 18,200 in New York City. Healthcare and social assistance also added 7,800 jobs in Nassau County-Suffolk County. In the educational services sector, most of the job gains were in New York City, which added 13,800 jobs. For the New York metropolitan area, education and health services employment increased 3.1 percent, exceeding the national growth rate of 2.8 percent. (See chart 2.)

Leisure and hospitality employment increased by 51,500 since last July, the second-largest gain in the New York area. Most of the gain was in accommodation and food services, with New York-Jersey City-White Plains division adding 27,300 jobs. Nassau County-Suffolk County and Newark each added 6,700 jobs. The New York area’s 5.6-percent rate of job growth in leisure and hospitality was more than double the 2.7-percent U.S. average.

From July 2015 to July 2016, only one other area supersector gained at least 20,000 jobs—professional and business services (21,500). Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services accounted for more than half of the expansion (11,500). The metropolitan area’s employment growth in professional and business services (1.4 percent) lagged the 2.7-percent national rate.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

New York-Newark-Jersey City was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in July 2016. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with 10 exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, up 3.2 percent. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (0.4 percent) and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (1.3 percent) had the slowest rates of job growth. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York added the largest number of jobs over the year, 199,700, followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (+116,800) and Dallas (+109,900). Houston had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 13,300 jobs, followed by Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, which added 54,000 jobs.

Education and health services added the most jobs in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale. Professional and business services gained the most jobs in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.

Manufacturing lost the most jobs over the year in 7 areas—Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Phoenix. New York was the only area to have no annual job loss in any supersector.

Metropolitan area employment data for August 2016 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

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 which 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 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 which 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 and administrative data 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 are also 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 special 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 for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established 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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester Counties in New York; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris County, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

• The Dutchess County-Putnam County, N.Y. Metropolitan Division includes Dutchess and Putnam Counties in New York.
• The Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y. Metropolitan Division includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties in New York.
• The New York-Jersey City-White Plains, N.Y.-N.J. Metropolitan Division includes New York City (Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond Counties), and Orange, Rockland, and Westchester Counties in New York; and Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Passaic Counties in New Jersey.
• The Newark, N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Division includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

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.