Midwest Information Office

Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/
GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880	FOR RELEASE:
MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte	Friday, July 10, 2009
(312) 353-1138

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CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AREA JOB COUNT: MAY 2009

Rate of Job Loss Faster than that for the Nation

 

Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,366,800 in May 2009. This was 209,000 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 4.6 percent over the past 12 months, compared with the national rate of decline of 4.0 percent 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, May 2003-2009

 

The Chicago metropolitan area is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area.  Nearly 9 of every 10 job losses from May 2008 to May 2009 in the area occurred in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Division (-185,900), which accounted for 85 percent of the area’s workforce.  (See table 2.)  The remaining two metropolitan divisions of Lake County-Kenosha County and Gary represented the remaining 15 percent of the area’s overall employment and experienced job losses of 17,200 and 5,900, respectively, over the year.

Industry Employment

Six industry supersectors lost more than 20,000 jobs in the Chicago area.  The professional and business services and manufacturing industries experienced the largest employment declines, down 47,900 and 44,900, respectively.  The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet division bore the brunt of these job losses.  The rate of decline in professional and business services, at 6.4 percent, was close to the 6.5-percent drop experienced nationally.  Professional and business services in the Chicago area has recorded over-the-year job declines for the past 13 months, with the last increase of more than 1,000 occurring in March 2008.  Manufacturing employment shrank 9.5 percent over the year in Chicago compared with an 11.8-percent decline nationwide.  Locally, manufacturing's over-the-year job losses in the Chicago area have exceeded 10,000 jobs for 12 consecutive months.

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

 

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the largest supersector in Chicago, dropped 34,800 jobs, declining 3.8 percent from May a year ago, and construction lost 29,100, shrinking 13.9 percent.  The local percentage decline in trade, transportation, and utilities was not as steep as the 4.6-percent loss nationally, while the area’s rate of decline in construction was close to the 13.7-percent decline nationwide.  Over-the-year job losses in trade, transportation, and utilities have exceeded 30,000 for the last six months and in construction, losses have exceeded 10,000 for 14 consecutive months.

Local employment declined by just over 20,000 from the previous May in two other supersectors, financial activities and leisure and hospitality, down 6.4 and 4.8 percent, respectively.  The rates of decline in these industries were greater than the 5.1- and 2.3- percent decreases experienced nationwide for these supersectors, respectively.  Financial activities has registered annual job declines of more than 10,000 for 17 consecutive months.  Leisure and hospitality has contracted for nine months in a row, with the over-the-year decline in May 2009 being the largest.

The only supersector in the Chicago area to add jobs from May 2008 to May 2009 was education and health services, up 3,900 or 0.6 percent.  However, the rate of growth in this industry has slowed from the previous year when jobs were expanding at a 2.6- percent pace, over four times the current rate.  Education and health services also continued to add jobs nationally.  Employment in this supersector grew 2.3 percent in the United States from May a year ago.

 

Employment in the 12 Largest Metropolitan Areas 

The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in May 2009.  All 12 of these areas had over-the-year job losses.  (See chart C and table 3.)  Nationally, employment declined 4.0 percent from May 2008 to May 2009.

Six of these areas—Detroit-Warren-Livonia (-8.0 percent), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta (-5.6 percent), Chicago-Naperville-Joliet (-4.6 percent), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (-4.5 percent each), and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (-4.3 percent)—experienced employment declines at a faster-than-average rate.

Six metropolitan areas had a percentage loss in jobs that fell below the national average.  Five of these areas experienced declines in the 3.1- to-2.1-percent range—Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.  The employment decline in the remaining area, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, was considerably smaller, 1.2 percent.

 
Six metropolitan areas experienced employment declines of over 100,000 from May a year ago, led by Los Angeles (-254,700) and New York (-232,900).  Another five areas had job losses of 50,000 or more.  Washington had the smallest decline, down 35,300 over the year.

 
In 5 of the 12 areas (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston) professional and business services experienced the largest employment losses over the 12-month period.  In four areas (Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco), trade, transportation, and utilities was the sector with the largest contraction.

  
Only two metropolitan areas failed to add at least 1,000 jobs in any industry supersector—Detroit and San Francisco.  In 8 of the 10 remaining areas, education and health services was the job leader, and government led the way in the other 2 areas—Washington and Houston.

 

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

 

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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Last Modified Date: July 13, 2009