Total nonfarm employment for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,811,300 in March 2013, down 1,200 or 0.1 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that this was the first over-the-year decline in employment in the Detroit area since April 2010. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; over-the-year analysis is used throughout. Technical Note at end of release contains metropolitan area definitions.)

The Detroit metropolitan area is made up of two metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. Employment in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division increased 3,500 from March a year ago, a gain of 0.3 percent. The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills division accounted for 61 percent of the metropolitan area's total employment in March 2013. The Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn Metropolitan Division lost 4,700 jobs over the 12-month period. (See table 1.)

Industry employment

Leisure and hospitality lost the largest number of jobs in the Detroit area in March 2013, down 8,600 from March a year ago. This was the fifth consecutive month where over-the-year employment in this supersector has declined by more than 2,000. The rate of job loss in this industry in March 2013 was 5.0 percent locally, compared to a 2.3-percent gain nationally. (See chart 2 and table 1.)

Government recorded the second largest employment decline in the Detroit area in March 2013, down 3,300 over the year; the majority of the loss occurred in local government. The local rate of job loss in the public sector, at 1.7 percent, outpaced the national decline of 0.3 percent during this 12-month period. With few exceptions, the public sector in the Detroit area has recorded over-the-year employment losses since January 2004.

Manufacturing gained the largest number of jobs in the Detroit area in March 2013, up 7,700 over the year, offsetting some of the jobs lost during the same time period. This gain represented a 3.6-percent growth rate, more than five times the 0.7-percent increase nationwide. Local employment gains in this supersector began in May 2010 and have continued unabated since that time.

Local employment in trade, transportation, and utilities along with professional and business services grew by 2,700 and 2, 500 respectively, over the year. Since last March, trade, transportation, and utilities employment increased 0.8 percent in the Detroit area, about half the national growth rate of 1.5 percent. Professional and business services grew by 0.7 percent locally compared to 3.2 percent nationwide.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Detroit was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in March 2013. Employment rose over the year in 11 of the 12 areas, with 6 areas registering growth rates equal to or above the 1.5-percent national advance. Among the 12 areas, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas, experienced the fastest rate of expansion, up 3.8 percent; Detroit was the only area to experience a decline as employment slipped 0.1 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif., area added the largest number of jobs from the previous March, rising 116,000. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.; Houston; and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, followed, each with gains of more than 100,000. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md., registered the smallest 12-month increase, up 12,500, while employment declined 1,200 in Detroit.

Professional and business services registered the largest over-the-year employment gains in 6 of the 12 metropolitan areas–Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.; Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H.; Dallas; Los Angeles; New York; and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. The public sector experienced the largest job losses in five areas–Atlanta; Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.; Los Angeles; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla.; and New York; losses were greatest in Los Angeles, down 11,800 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. Industry employment data for all states and metropolitan areas from the CES program are also available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Employment 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. 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.

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 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

• The The Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Wayne County in Michigan.
• The The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, and St. Clair Counties in Michigan.

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