Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 2,339,000 in August 2012, an increase of 29,400, or 1.3 percent, from one year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Atlanta area has recorded over-the-year employment gains each month for over two years. Nationally, nonfarm employment increased 1.4 percent. (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.)

Industry employment

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, trade, transportation, and utilities added the most jobs in August 2012, up 24,300, or 4.7 percent, over the 12-month period. Atlanta’s employment in trade, transportation, and utilities grew at a faster rate and added more jobs over-the-year in August 2012 than for any month since August 1999. This supersector grew 1.2 percent nationally. (See chart 2.)

Professional and business services had the second largest increase in jobs locally, increasing by 14,300 from the previous August. Employment in professional and business services rose 3.5 percent in Atlanta, similar to the 3.2 percent growth nationally.

Two additional supersectors, education and health services, and manufacturing, added at least 3,000 jobs in Atlanta over the year, up 6,300 and 3,600, respectively, in August 2012. Employment in education and health services grew 2.2 percent over the 12-month period and manufacturing was up 2.4 percent. Nationwide, over-the-year employment in these supersectors increased 2.2 and 1.7 percent, respectively.

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, three supersectors recorded employment declines of 5,000 or more from the previous August. Construction experienced the largest loss of jobs over the year, down 7,200 or 7.6 percent. With the exception of a few months in 2011 and 2012, this supersector has been losing jobs since July 2007. Nationwide, construction added 7,000 jobs.

Government lost the second most jobs in Atlanta, down 6,100 or 2.0 percent. This supersector also lost jobs nationally, declining 0.7 percent. Locally, financial activities lost 5,300 jobs over the year. Nationally, the financial activities supersector added jobs since August 2011.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

The Atlanta area was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2012. All of these areas experienced over-the-year job gains during the period, though the rates of growth were varied. Employment growth was more than double the national rate of 1.4 percent in Houston and San Francisco, up 3.5 and 3.2 percent, respectively. Three areas—Boston, Dallas, and Los Angeles—had a growth rate of 2.0 percent or more. The three slowest-growing areas, Miami, Philadelphia, and Chicago, all had rates of growth below 1.0 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

Among the 12 areas, New York added the most jobs since August 2011, up 117,900. Los Angeles and Houston followed with the addition of 103,000 and 89,500 jobs, respectively. Employment in three other areas—Dallas, San Francisco, and Boston—grew between 62,000 and 52,000. Only Miami gained fewer than 10,000 jobs over the 12-month period, up just 4,900.

Three industry supersectors accounted for the highest job growth in the 12 metropolitan areas from August a year ago. Professional and business services registered the largest employment gains in eight areas (Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco). Education and health services experienced the largest gains in two other areas (Miami and Washington), while trade, transportation, and utilities had the most growth in the remaining two areas (Atlanta and Houston).

Widespread employment declines were recorded in the public sector over the year. Government experienced the largest loss of jobs in six areas (Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, and New York) and the second largest loss in three other areas (Atlanta, Miami, and Philadelphia). Employment losses in the public sector exceeded 25,000 in New York. Both Washington and San Francisco added more than 2,500 jobs in government over the year.

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.

Definition. 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 places 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 (NAICS).

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, 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 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 are 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 online at www.bls.gov/sae/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

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/.

Current and historical information on the Current Employment Statistics program and other surveys are also available on our regional Web site at www.bls.gov/ro4/home.htm. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone: 1-800-877-8339.

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 December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
includes the counties of Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton in Georgia.

 

Last Modified Date: October 3, 2012