PHILADELPHIA METROPOLITAN AREA JOB COUNT:  FEBRUARY 2009 (PDF)

Employment Fell by 67,400 Over the Year

Total nonfarm employment for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,722,400 in February 2009, down 67,400, or 2.4 percent, over the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. During the same period, the national job count fell 3.1 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that February’s decline was the largest over-the-year net decrease in local payrolls since December 1991. (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 net change in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and its components, February 1999-February 2009

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. All three divisions lost jobs over the year. The Philadelphia Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 69 percent of the workforce, had the largest decline, losing 33,600 jobs over the last 12 months. Philadelphia City, part of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Division, lost 9,400 jobs since February 2008. Employment levels dropped by 20,800 in the Camden Metropolitan Division, which represented 19 percent of the Philadelphia area workforce. The Wilmington Metropolitan Division, which accounted for the remaining 12 percent for the local area workforce, lost 13,000 jobs over the year.

Industry employment

In the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, the professional and business services supersector lost 20,300 jobs from February 2008 to February 2009, more than any other industry. The recent losses represented a 4.8-percent employment decline from last year, less than the national decrease of 5.4 percent. (See chart B.) For the metropolitan area, the Camden Metropolitan Division accounted for nearly one-half (-9,100) of the decline though it represented less than one-fifth of local employment in this industry.

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

Three other industries lost more than 10,000 jobs over the year in the Philadelphia area—trade, transportation, and utilities (-18,700), mining, logging, and construction (-14,300) and manufacturing (-13,200). Locally, both the mining, logging, and construction and the trade, transportation, and utilities supersectors have had over-the-year decreases for at least 10 consecutive months. However, over-the-year losses in manufacturing have continued for a much longer time span, with declines almost unabated since August 1998, a period of more than 10 years.

Three other supersectors lost jobs over the year in the Philadelphia area—financial activities (-7,000), information (-2,400), and leisure and hospitality (-2,000). Local employment in financial activities and leisure and hospitality declined at a slower-than-average pace, while in information, employment decreased at a faster pace than that for the nation.

The only bright spot in local area employment was education and health services, which gained 9,700 jobs over the last 12 months. While all three metropolitan divisions shared in the recent increase, most of the gains were centered in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Division. The last time this supersector had an over-the-year decline was August 1995, more than 13 years ago. Since February 1990, the first year comparable data were available, education and health services employment has grown 56.1 percent in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, far exceeding the growth rate in any other local supersector.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2009. All 12 of these areas experienced over-the-year job losses. (See chart C and table 2.) 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.

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

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/.

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 by subscription from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 (telephone 202-512-1800).

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.

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

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

The Camden, N.J. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey.

The Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania.

The Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes New Castle County in Delaware; Cecil County in Maryland; and Salem County in New Jersey.