Total nonfarm employment in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy metropolitan area1 stood at 2,499,500 in October 2011, up 47,000 from one year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. From October 2010 to October 2011, local nonfarm employment rose 1.9 percent, compared with the national growth rate of 1.1 percent. Regional Commissioner Denis M. McSweeney noted that this was the 19th consecutive month of over-the-year job gains following 17 months of over-the-year losses in the Boston area. (See chart 1 and table 1; Technical Note at end of release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area is comprised of nine metropolitan divisions - separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Boston-Cambridge-Quincy Metropolitan Division, which made up 69 percent of the workforce, gained 30,400 jobs from October 2010 to October 2011, accounting for about 65 percent of the area's growth. Each of the other six divisions for which data are published also added jobs over the year.

Industry employment

In the Boston area, 8 of the 11 industry supersectors recorded over-the-year employment growth of 1,000 or more in October 2011. Professional and business services had the largest gain in employment, up 10,400, the most jobs added annually in this industry since March 2008. Still, the 2.6-percent local increase was less than the national growth of 3.2 percent.

Employment in the area's largest supersector, educational and health services, grew by 9,900 from October a year ago. The 1.9-percent rate of increase in this industry was just below the U.S. average of 2.2 percent.

Locally, the next largest job gainers from October 2010 to October 2011 were trade, transportation, and utilities (+7,500) and leisure and hospitality (+6,500). Both supersectors recorded annual employment growth at a faster-than-average pace.

Manufacturing employment rose by 4,600 in the metropolitan area, increasing over the year for the 14th consecutive month after declining for more than nine years.

Elsewhere in the Boston area, employment growth was strongest in the information supersector, up 4.8 percent with the addition of 3,500 jobs, a sharp contrast to the 1.6-percent decline posted nationwide. Employment gains were also stronger-than average in construction which added 1,800 jobs and grew at a 2.2-percent pace compared to 0.3-percent rate of growth nationally.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in October 2011. Ten of these areas experienced over-the-year job gains during the period, with four – Houston, Boston, Dallas, and Miami – registering rates of job growth above the 1.1-percent national average. Six other areas recorded annual growth rates ranging from 1.0 to 0.1 percent. Atlanta experienced the largest percentage decline in jobs, down 1.0 percent.(See chart 3 and table 2.)

Of the ten areas experiencing employment increases from the previous October, Houston added the largest number of jobs, 79,500, while two others, Dallas and Boston, expanded by more than 45,000. Five other areas added at least 15,000 jobs. In contrast, Atlanta lost 22,100 jobs and Philadelphia, 3,300, during this 12-month period.

Among the 12 metropolitan areas, professional and business services was a major source of job growth from October 2010 to October 2011. This supersector registered the largest over-the-year employment gain in nine areas – Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington. In the three remaining areas of Detroit, Los Angeles, and Miami, professional and business services was the second largest job gainer during the 12-month period.

Government experienced the largest loss of jobs in seven areas – Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, New York, and Philadelphia. The decline in public sector employment was largest in New York, down 29,200 from October a year ago, followed by Philadelphia, down 11,500.

Additional information

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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.

Employment definition. 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 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 standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on November 20, 2008. A detailed list of geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. Metropolitan New England City and Town Area (NECTA) includes nine NECTA divisions--subdivisions of the larger NECTA which function as distinct social, economic, and cultural areas within the larger region. The NECTA divisions that compose the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH NECTA include: Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA, Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, MA, Framingham, MA, Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, MA-NH, Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, MA-NH, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH, Nashua, NH-MA, Peabody, MA, Taunton-Norton-Raynham, MA, and select cities and towns within.

Last Modified Date: December 6, 2011

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