Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/
GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880	FOR RELEASE:
MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte	Thursday, April 16, 2009
(312) 353-1138

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CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AREA JOB COUNT: FEBRUARY 2009

Employment Fell by 137,100 Over the Year

 

Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,331,700 in February 2009, 137,100 below its year-ago level, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that the Chicago area job count fell by 3.1 percent over the past 12 months, matching the national rate of decline for the same time period.    (See charts A and B and tables 1 and 2.  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 Chicago metropolitan area, February 2003-2009

 

The Chicago metropolitan area is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area.  Virtually all of the Chicago area's job losses from February 2008 to February 2009 occurred in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Division (-126,400), which accounted for 85 percent of the area’s workforce.  (See table 2.)  The remaining two metropolitan divisions of Gary and Lake County-Kenosha County represented the remaining 15 percent of the area’s overall employment and experienced job losses of 1.8 and 1.5 percent, respectively, over the year.

Industry Employment

In Chicago, the professional and business services supersector experienced the area’s largest over-the-year employment decline dropping 37,900 jobs, with almost all of the loss occurring in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet division.  The rate of decline in this supersector, at 5.2 percent, was close to the 5.4-percent drop experienced nationally.  Professional and business services in the Chicago area has recorded over-the-year job declines for the past 10 months, with the last increase of more than 1,000 jobs occurring in March 2008.

Chart B. Over-the-year percent change in employment by industry supersector, United States and the Chicago metropolitan area, February 2009

 

Two other supersectors, trade, transportation, and utilities and manufacturing, also experienced very large employment reductions in the Chicago area.  Trade, transportation, and utilities dropped 30,500 jobs, declining 3.3 percent from February a year ago, and manufacturing lost 29,900, shrinking 6.3 percent. The percentage declines in both industries, however, were slower than their respective rates of job loss nationally, at 3.9 and 9.1 percent, respectively.  Still, it should also be noted that manufacturing’s over-the-year losses in the Chicago area have exceeded 10,000 jobs for nine consecutive months and more than 20,000 for the last three months.

Other industries with employment losses in the Chicago area included construction (-19,000), financial activities (-12,500), and leisure and hospitality (-9,900).  The construction industry in the Chicago area has recorded over-the-year declines in each of the past 26 months, with the last increase of more than 1,000 jobs occurring in December 2006.  The decline in financial activities was the 14th consecutive month in which the sector lost more than 10,000 jobs from the prior year. 

The only industry in the Chicago area to add more than 1,000 jobs from February 2008 to February 2009 was education and health services, up 8,600 or 1.4 percent.  However, the rate of growth in this industry has slowed from the previous year when jobs were expanding at twice the current rate (2.8 percent).  Education and health services has also continued to add jobs nationally during the downturn.  Employment in this sector grew 2.6 percent in the United States from February a year ago.

Employment in the 12 Largest Metropolitan Areas

All 12 of the largest metropolitan statistical areas in the nation experienced over-the-year job declines in February 2009.  (See chart C and table 3.)  The last over-the-year period for which all 12 areas reported job declines was December 1991 when the nation was emerging from the 1990-1991 recession.  Nationally, employment declined 3.1 percent from February 2008 to February 2009.

Of these 12 metropolitan areas, five—Detroit-Warren-Livonia (-7.4 percent), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta (-4.6 percent), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (-4.1 percent), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana (-3.6 percent), and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (-3.5 percent)—experienced employment declines at a faster-than-average pace.  Job losses in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet occurred at the same rate as that for the nation.

 
Six metropolitan areas had a percentage loss in jobs that fell below the national average.  Four of these areas experienced declines in the 2.5- to 1.0-percent range—Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.  Percentage losses in the remaining areas of Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (-0.2 percent) and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (-0.1 percent) were considerably smaller.

 
Five metropolitan areas experienced employment declines of over 100,000 from February a year ago, led by Los Angeles (-202,300) and New York (-193,000).  Another four areas had job losses of 50,000 or more.  Washington had the smallest decline in jobs, down 3,300 over the year. 
In 7 of the 12 areas, professional and business services experienced the largest employment losses over the 12-month period. 

 

 

Chart C. Over-the year percent change in employment, 12 largest areas and the United States, February 2009

 

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program for the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Statistical Area, one of the 12 largest metropolitan areas. The rankings were based on population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007. The CES program is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor.

 

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.

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 on November 20, 2008. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, 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-Naperville-Joliet, 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

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.

 

 

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Table 2. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, Chicago metropolitan area and its components, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)

Area and Industry	Feb 2008	Dec 2008	Jan 2009	Feb 2009(p)	Change from Feb 2008 to Feb 2009(p)
					Number	Percent
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm	4,468.8	4,488.5	4,354.3	4,331.7	-137.1	-3.1
Mining and logging	1.8	2.1	2.0	1.9	0.1	5.6
Construction	184.9	188.7	169.2	165.9	-19.0	-10.3
Manufacturing	474.2	459.6	453.0	444.3	-29.9	-6.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	918.0	932.6	895.9	887.5	-30.5	-3.3
Information	90.6	89.1	88.2	87.6	-3.0	-3.3
Financial activities	318.6	312.2	306.5	306.1	-12.5	-3.9
Professional and business services	724.8	721.0	695.1	686.9	-37.9	-5.2
Education and health Services	602.4	618.0	608.7	611.0	8.6	1.4
Leisure and Hospitality	386.3	393.7	378.2	376.4	-9.9	-2.6
Other Services	197.2	199.2	195.8	195.5	-1.7	-0.9
Government	570.0	572.3	561.7	568.6	-1.4	-0.2
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	3,801.5	3,810.4	3,695.8	3,675.1	-126.4	-3.3
Mining and logging	1.4	1.5	1.4	1.4	0.0	0.0
Construction	149.8	153.4	137.1	134.4	-15.4	-10.3
Manufacturing	375.4	361.8	356.0	347.7	-27.7	-7.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities	771.9	781.7	750.8	743.7	-28.2	-3.7
Information	83.7	82.2	81.4	80.8	-2.9	-3.5
Financial activities	285.8	280.0	275.1	274.8	-11.0	-3.8
Professional and Business Services	645.5	639.3	616.3	608.5	-37.0	-5.7
Education and Health Services	513.4	528.6	521.0	522.6	9.2	1.8
Leisure and Hospitality	323.3	328.6	315.2	313.6	-9.7	-3.0
Other Services	171.5	173.4	170.2	170.0	-1.5	-0.9
Government	479.8	479.9	471.3	477.6	-2.2	-0.5
Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	390.1	397.8	386.0	384.4	-5.7	-1.5
Mining and logging	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	100.0
Construction	17.3	18.1	16.3	16.1	-1.2	-6.9
Manufacturing	61.1	60.0	59.7	59.7	-1.4	-2.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	85.8	88.8	85.3	84.3	-1.5	-1.7
Information	4.7	4.8	4.7	4.7	0.0	0.0
Financial activities	23.4	23.0	22.4	22.3	-1.1	-4.7
Professional and Business Services	57.3	59.3	56.9	56.6	-0.7	-1.2
Education and Health Services	42.9	43.5	42.8	42.8	-0.1	-0.2
Leisure and Hospitality	33.0	34.0	32.8	32.7	-0.3	-0.9
Other Services	13.3	13.5	13.3	13.3	0.0	0.0
Government	51.2	52.6	51.6	51.7	0.5	1.0
Gary, IN Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	277.2	280.3	272.5	272.2	-5.0	-1.8
Mining and logging	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.0	0.0
Construction	17.8	17.2	15.8	15.4	-2.4	-13.5
Manufacturing	37.7	37.8	37.3	36.9	-0.8	-2.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	60.3	62.1	59.8	59.5	-0.8	-1.3
Information	2.2	2.1	2.1	2.1	-0.1	-4.5
Financial activities	9.4	9.2	9.0	9.0	-0.4	-4.3
Professional and Business Services	22.0	22.4	21.9	21.8	-0.2	-0.9
Education and Health Services	46.1	45.9	44.9	45.6	-0.5	-1.1
Leisure and Hospitality	30.0	31.1	30.2	30.1	0.1	0.3
Other Services	12.4	12.3	12.3	12.2	-0.2	-1.6
Government	39.0	39.8	38.8	39.3	0.3	0.8
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