Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,231,000 in February 2012, up 42,100 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 1.6 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that the Chicago area has recorded over-the-year job growth of at least 20,000 for 17 consecutive months. (See chart 1 and table 1. 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 three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 85 percent of the area’s workforce, added 38,100 jobs from February a year ago. (See table 1.) The metropolitan divisions of Lake County-Kenosha County and Gary, Ind., also added jobs over the 12-month period, up 1,200 and 2,800, respectively.

Industry employment

The largest over-the-year employment increase in the Chicago metropolitan area in February 2012 was in professional and business services, up 22,300. The Chicago area’s 3.3-percent rate of job growth in this supersector was less than the 3.8-percent gain nationwide.(See chart 2 and table 1.) Locally, professional and business services have recorded over-the-year gains of more than 5,000 each month since April 2010.

Three other supersectors added more than 6,000 jobs in the Chicago area from February 2011 to February 2012. Education and health services expanded by 11,500 or 1.8 percent during this period compared to a 2.4-percent gain nationally. Locally, this supersector has experienced over-the-year employment gains of 10,000 or more since January 2010. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 9,400, or 2.5 percent from February a year ago. This rate of growth was similar to the 2.6-percent increase nationwide. Over-the year employment growth in leisure and hospitality has been recorded since August 2010 in the Chicago area. Manufacturing employment rose by 6,300 or 1.6 percent, which was less than the national growth rate of 2.0 percent. This supersector has experienced consecutive over-the-year employment gains of 1,500 or more since October 2010.

The largest job loss in the Chicago metropolitan area occurred in construction, down 4,300 from February 2011. Locally, this supersector’s 3.5-percent decline in employment contrasted with a 1.6-percent increase nationally. With few exceptions, the Chicago area has experienced over-the-year job losses in construction since January 2007.

Government lost 4,000 jobs from February a year ago. The Chicago area’s 0.7-percent rate of employment decline in the government supersector was less than the 0.9-percent decrease nationwide.

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the largest supersector in Chicago, was the third-largest job loser in the area, with an employment decrease of 2,000 from February a year ago. This supersector’s 0.2-percent rate of decline stood in contrast to a 1.5-percent gain nationwide. For the Chicago area, this was the first year-over-year employment decline in trade, transportation, and utilities since September 2010.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

The Chicago area was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2012. All of these areas experienced over-the-year job gains during the period, though the rates of growth were varied. Four of these areas expanded at a pace above the 1.6-percent national average and three others grew by less than 1.0 percent. Employment growth was strongest in Houston, up 3.7 percent—more than twice the U.S. average, and slowest in Philadelphia, up 0.3 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

Among the 12 areas, New York added the most jobs since February 2011, up 117,700. Houston and Dallas followed with the addition of 93,400 and 79,400 jobs, respectively. Five other areas added between 44,000 and 34,000 jobs. Only Philadelphia gained fewer than 10,000 jobs over the 12-month period.

Two industry supersectors accounted for most of the job growth in the 12 metropolitan areas from February a year ago. Professional and business services registered the largest employment gains in six areas (Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco) and education and health services led in five other areas (Boston, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, and Washington).

Widespread losses were recorded in the public sector over the year. Government experienced the largest loss of jobs in eight areas and had the second largest drop in three additional areas. Only Washington added public sectors jobs from the prior February, up 5,800. The decline in government employment was largest in New York, down 13,400, followed by Los Angeles (-9,300), and Philadelphia (-9,000).

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program.

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 standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, 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-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• 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/.

For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Midwest Information Office at (312) 353-1880 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

Last Modified Date: April 19, 2012

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Midwest Information Office, Suite 960, 230 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604

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