Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/
GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880	FOR RELEASE:
MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte	Tuesday, May 5, 2009
(312) 353-1138

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DETROIT METROPOLITAN AREA JOB COUNT: MARCH 2009

Job Count for the Detroit Area Fell by 135,300 Over the Year

 

Total nonfarm employment for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,772,200 in March 2009, 135,300 below its year-ago level.  This drop represented a decline of 7.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Nationally, nonfarm employment was down 3.6 percent during the same 12-month period.  (See chart A and table 1.)  Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that while the Detroit area has experienced declines in employment every month since October 2005, the rate of over-the-year job loss has accelerated substantially in recent months.  (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 Detroit metropolitan area, March 2003-2009

 

The Detroit metropolitan area is made up of two metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area—both of which experienced job losses that outpaced the national decline.  Employment in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn Metropolitan Division declined 5.7 percent and the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division fell 8.0 percent.  The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Division, which accounted for about 59 percent of the metropolitan area's total employment, experienced about 68 percent of Detroit's over the year job losses.  (See table 1.)

 

Industry Employment

Professional and business services recorded the largest employment loss in the Detroit area, dropping 46,200 jobs from March 2008 to March 2009, a decline of 13.6 percent.  Just one year earlier, employment in the industry had still decreased, but was down only 1.4 percent.  The recent loss of professional and business service jobs was more pronounced in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division, which lost 34,300 or 15.4 percent of its employment from March 2008.  Nationally, employment in professional and business services also decreased, though the 5.9-percent over-the-year decline was not nearly as steep.  (See chart B and table 1.)

 

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

 

The second-largest employment decline in the Detroit area was in the manufacturing industry which lost 41,100 jobs, a decline of 16.9 percent.  The losses were more severe in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills area, which lost 29,200 jobs or 18.7 percent of its manufacturing employment.  Nationally, manufacturing employment fell by 9.9 percent from March 2008 to March 2009.

 
Trade, transportation, and utilities, the Detroit area's largest supersector, experienced an employment decline of 21,500 or 6.0 percent.  The decline was roughly equally distributed with the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn area losing 6.6 percent of its employment in the industry and the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Division losing 5.5 percent.  Nationally, employment in trade, transportation, and utilities fell 4.3 percent.

Employment in mining, logging, and construction fell by 8,700 or 14.8 percent over the year.  This compared to a 9.0-percent decline during the previous 12-month period.  Nationally, employment in these industries experienced a collective employment decline of 12.1 percent from March 2008.

Five other Detroit-area supersectors reported job losses ranging from 8,100 in financial services to 1,400 in other services.

Education and health services was the only Detroit area supersector to add jobs over the year, increasing by 2,900 or 1.0 percent.  In spite of the area’s overall employment decline in recent years, the education and health services industry has expanded every month since June 2003.  Nationally, the education and health services expanded 2.3 percent from March a year ago.

 

Employment in the 12 Largest Areas 

The Detroit-Warren-Livonia area was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in March 2009.  All of these areas experienced over-the-year job losses.  (See chart C and table 3.)  Nationally, employment fell 3.6 percent from March 2008 to March 2009.

 
Of these 12 metropolitan areas, 5—Detroit-Warren-Livonia (-7.1 percent), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (-4.7 percent each), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (-3.9 percent each)—recorded employment declines at a faster-than-average pace.

Conversely, seven metropolitan areas lost jobs at a slower rate than that for the nation.  Five of these areas experienced declines in the 3.5- to 1.0-percent range—Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.  Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria posted the smallest losses (-0.6 percent each).

Two metropolitan areas experienced employment declines of over 200,000 from March a year ago:  Los Angeles (-221,300) and New York (-219,700).  Four other areas lost more than 100,000 jobs led by Chicago (-157,600).  Two areas, Houston and Washington, lost fewer than 20,000 jobs over the year.

In 7 of the 12 areas, professional and business services recorded the largest loss of jobs from March 2008.  Education and health services added the most jobs in 11 of the 12 areas, Washington being the exception.

 

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

 

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. 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.

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

The Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Wayne County in Michigan.

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

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 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET.