WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA JOB COUNT: JANUARY 2009 (PDF)

Employment Fell by 1,800 Over the Year

Total nonfarm employment for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,957,400 in January 2009, down 1,800, or 0.1 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 2.6 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that January’s decline was the 2nd consecutive over-the-year decrease in local payrolls, following uninterrupted over-the-year growth from July 2002 to November 2008. (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 Washington metropolitan area and its components, January 1999-January 2009

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of two metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Md. Metropolitan Division, which represented 19 percent of the local workforce, accounted for the area’s entire employment decline, losing 4,600 jobs since January 2008. However, the larger Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Division, which accounted for the remaining 81 percent of the area’s employment, moderated the overall decline by adding 2,800 jobs to its payrolls.

Industry employment

In the greater Washington metropolitan area, the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector lost 15,900 jobs from January 2008 to January 2009, more than any other industry. Within this supersector, declining employment in retail trade accounted for 13,600 of the jobs lost. The 4.0-percent local employment decline in trade, transportation, and utilities compared to the national decrease of 3.7 percent. (See table 1 and chart B.) For the metropolitan area, the Washington metropolitan division lost 9,900 trade, transportation, and utilities jobs, while the Bethesda division accounted for over one-third (6,000) of the decline though it represented only 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 Washington metropolitan area, January 2009

Two other industries lost more than 5,000 jobs over the year in the Washington area—mining, logging, and construction (11,900) and financial activities (5,100). Over-the-year decreases in mining, logging, and construction jobs in the greater Washington area stretched back to November 2006 without interruption—27 consecutive periods of decline. Local employment in financial activities fell 3.3 percent since January 2008, matching the national rate of decline for this industry.

Four supersectors gained more than 5,000 jobs in the Washington area from January 2008 to January 2009. Education and health services gained the most jobs (10,700); nearly all (9,900) of these jobs were located in the Washington division. Professional and business services, the largest supersector in the Washington area accounting for almost one-quarter of the area’s employment as of January 2009, gained the second-highest number of jobs at 9,900, followed by leisure and hospitality (7,200), and government (5,600). These four supersectors exhibited consistent job growth in the Washington area with uninterrupted employment gains stretching back at least four years in each of these industries.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in January 2009. Eleven of these areas experienced over-the-year job losses. (See chart C.) Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown was the only area to add jobs during this 12-month period, growing at a 0.7-percent pace. Nationally, employment declined 2.6 percent from January 2008 to January 2009.

Of the areas with over-the-year job losses, five—Detroit-Warren-Livonia (-7.4 percent), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta (-3.8 percent), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (-3.4 percent), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana (-3.2 percent), and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (-2.9 percent)—experienced employment declines faster than the national rate. Job losses in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet occurred at the same rate as that for the nation. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (-2.0 percent each), Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (-1.7 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (-0.2 percent), and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (-0.1 percent) all lost jobs at a slower pace than the nation since January 2008.

Four metropolitan areas experienced employment declines of over 100,000 from January a year ago, led by Los Angeles (-175,600) and New York (-168,600). Another five areas had job losses of about 50,000 or more. Houston, the only area to gain jobs since last January, increased its employment by 17,200.

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

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 www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/omb/bulletins/fy2009/09-01.pdf.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes the District of Columbia; Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren Counties, and Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park Cities in Virginia; Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; and Jefferson County in West Virginia. 

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Division (MD)includes the District of Columbia; Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren Counties, and Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park Cities in Virginia; Calvert, Charles, and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; and Jefferson County in West Virginia.

The Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Md. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Frederick and Montgomery Counties in Maryland.