Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Job Count in March 2008
Rose by 7,900 Over the Year (PDF)

Total nonfarm employment for the Pittsburgh, Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,139,400 in March 2008, an increase of 7,900 jobs over the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that Pittsburgh’s employment increased 0.7 percent over the 12-month period, compared to a 0.4-percent gain for the nation as a whole in March 2008.  While the recent job growth in Pittsburgh was the 26th consecutive over-the-year advance, the percentage gain in the local area exceeded that for the nation in only 3 of those 26 periods.  (See chart A 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.)

Chart A.  Total nonfarm employment, over-the-year percent change in the United States and the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, March 1998-2008

In the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, over-the-year employment growth was led by the addition of 5,000 jobs in education and health services--the 150th straight monthly over-the-year gain in this industry supersector.  Still, the March 2008 advance of 2.2 percent was below the 3.0-percent growth rate for education and health services in the United States during the same period.  Since March 1990, the first year this data series was available, 72,100 education and health services jobs have been added in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, an increase of 45.2 percent.  As of March 2008, there were 231,500 education and health services jobs in the Pittsburgh area, making this the largest supersector in the area with one-fifth of total nonfarm employment.  (See chart B.)

Chart B.  Over-the-year percent change in employment by industry supersector, United States and the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, March 2008

The professional and business services supersector added 3,700 jobs in the Pittsburgh area over the year, an increase of 2.5 percent.  Pittsburgh’s growth rate was well above the national increase of 0.7 percent in this industry.  In March 2008, there were 154,000 professional and business services jobs in the Pittsburgh area, up 29,700, or 23.9 percent, from the March 1990 level.

The leisure and hospitality industry in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area added 2,500 jobs since last March--the largest 12-month advance in four years.  The 2.5-percent local gain was in line with the 2.4-percent national increase in this industry.  Pittsburgh’s leisure and hospitality employment stood at 102,700 as of March 2008, 18,400, or 21.8 percent, higher than in March 1990.

From March 2007 to March 2008, the construction industry in Pittsburgh added 2,400 jobs.  This increase represented a 4.6-percent advance in local construction employment, the largest percent gain in employment of any supersector in the Pittsburgh area.  However, on the national level, construction employment fell by 4.8 percent.

Job counts in financial activities, natural resources and mining, other services, and information varied by less than 1,000 from March 2007 levels in the metropolitan area.

Manufacturing employment fell by 1,100 over the year in the Pittsburgh area.  The 1.1-percent local decline was smaller than the 2.3-percent 12-month decrease in national manufacturing employment.  In March 2008, there were 99,200 manufacturing jobs in the Pittsburgh area, 30,300 jobs fewer than in March 2000--a decrease of 23.4 percent.

The government supersector lost 1,500 jobs in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area from March 2007 to March 2008, a decline of 1.2 percent.  Nationally, public sector employment grew by 1.1 percent over the last 12 months.

Employment in trade, transportation, and utilities declined by 1,900, or 0.9 percent, in the Pittsburgh area since March 2007.  In the U.S. as a whole, employment in trade, transportation, and utilities was little changed, down 0.1 percent over the year.  With 221,400, or nearly one-fifth, of the jobs in the area, trade, transportation, and utilities was the second-largest supersector in Pittsburgh in March 2008.

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 in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by 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 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 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/790stderr.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 November 20, 2007.  A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/bulletins/fy2008/b08-01.pdf.

The Pittsburgh, Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania.

Additional information

Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the CES 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 Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.