Total nonfarm employment for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,910,100 in March 2008, a decline of 45,300, or 2.3 percent, over the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nationally, nonfarm employment grew by 0.4 percent during the same period. Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that the job loss in the Detroit area from March 2007 to March 2008 continued a long-standing trend. Since the start of 2001, 79 of the last 87 months have posted over-the-year job losses. (See chart A.) (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Eight of the area’s 10 industry supersectors lost more than 1,000 jobs from March a year ago, with manufacturing sustaining the largest decline, down 25,500. In contrast, one industry supersector, education and health services, added 6,600 jobs.

Chart A.  Total nonfarm employment, over-the-year net change in the Detroit metropolitan area, January 2001-March 2008

The Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. Metropolitan Statistical Area is comprised of two metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn Metropolitan Division comprised 40 percent of the workforce in the Detroit metropolitan area in March 2008, but accounted for 62 percent of its over-the-year employment decline with a loss of 28,000 jobs. The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division, with 60 percent of the Detroit area’s employment, accounted for 38 percent of the loss, dropping 17,300 jobs. (See table 1; Technical Note at end of release contains metropolitan area definitions.)

In the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn Metropolitan Division, manufacturing employment fell by 16,400, accounting for a substantial portion of the jobs lost. Six other industries had smaller declines: trade, transportation, and utilities (-3,300); professional and business services (-3,000); natural resources, mining, and construction (-2,100); other services; government (-1,300, each); and leisure and hospitality (-1,100). In contrast, education and health services added 2,000 jobs. Employment was little changed in the two remaining supersectors (information and financial activities) from March 2007.

In the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division, job losses were also heaviest in manufacturing (-9,100). Five other supersectors lost from 4,000 to 1,800 jobs—professional and business services; natural resources, mining, and construction; government; financial activities; and leisure and hospitality. In contrast, education and health services added 4,600 jobs. Employment levels changed by less than 1,000 in the remaining three supersectors (trade, transportation, and utilities; information; and other services) from March a year ago.

The Detroit area had 238,400 manufacturing jobs in March 2008. Over the year, employment in this industry was down 25,500, or 9.7 percent, well above the 2.3-percent national rate of decline in this supersector. Since March 2000, the Detroit area has lost 150,800 manufacturing jobs. Locally, almost two-thirds of the jobs lost in March 2008 occurred in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn division.

The Detroit area had 336,600 professional and business service jobs in March 2008, making it the second-largest supersector locally after trade, transportation, and utilities. Over the year, employment in professional and business services was down 7,000, or 2.0 percent, with more than half of the losses occurring in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division. Nationally, the professional and business service sector added jobs, increasing 0.7 percent from March a year ago.

Natural resources, mining, and construction employed 59,100 in the Detroit area in March 2008. Over the year, employment in this industry supersector was down 5,300 or 8.2 percent. Three-fifths of the loss in the natural resources, mining, and construction sector occurred in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division.

Government jobs in the Detroit area were down 3,600 from the previous March, the 20^th consecutive month of over-the-year declines in the public sector. The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills division shed 2,300 government jobs and the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn division lost 1,300. The Detroit area’s 1.5-percent loss of public-sector jobs from March 2007 to March 2008 was in contrast to the 1.1-percent increase in government employment experienced at the national level.

Locally, the leisure and hospitality sector lost 2,900 jobs from March 2007 to March 2008, a decline of 1.6 percent. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills accounted for 1,800 of the job loss and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 1,100. In contrast, employment in the leisure and hospitality industry increased 2.4 percent nationwide.

The trade, transportation, and utilities, supersector lost 2,800 jobs or 0.8-percent of its employment in the Detroit metropolitan area from March 2007. All of the losses in this supersector occurred in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn Metropolitan Division. Nationally, employment in this industry supersector was essentially unchanged from March a year ago.

Locally, employment in the financial activities industry was down 2,400 from March a year ago, a decline of 2.1 percent. The last time the financial activities supersector added more than 1,000 jobs over a 12-month period was March 2005. Nationwide, employment in the financial activities sector was down 1.4 percent from March 2007 to March 2008.

The other services supersector, which includes a variety of industries such as car washes, funeral homes, civic and social organizations, and home and garden equipment and repair, lost 1,600 jobs in the Detroit area from March 2007. This supersector has experienced 22 successive months of employment declines.

With the addition of 6,600 workers, education and health services was the only supersector in the Detroit metropolitan area to add more than 1,000 jobs from March a year ago. Most of this growth occurred in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills division. Unlike most supersectors in Detroit, this industry has enjoyed over-the-year growth almost continuously since April 1999. Nonetheless, Detroit’s 2.4-percent increase in March 2008 did not keep pace with the 3.0-percent growth experienced nationally.

The information supersector recorded little change in its employment count from the prior March.

Detroit-Warren-Livonia was one of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in March 2008. Eight of these areas experienced over-the-year job growth greater than the national increase of 0.4 percent. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown registered the fastest employment gain, growing at a rate of 3.2 percent from March 2007, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, up 2.0 percent. The other six areas with above-average growth were: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. (1.1 percent), Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. (1.0 percent), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (both at 0.8 percent), San Francisco-Oakland-Freemont, Calif. (0.6 percent), and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md (0.5 percent). One other area, Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis., had job growth that equaled the national increase of 0.4 percent. (See table 2 and chart B.)

The three remaining metropolitan areas lost jobs from March 2007 to March 2008. Employment dropped 0.6 percent in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.,
0.8 percent in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla., and 2.3 percent in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.

The fastest growing industry supersector did not vary a lot among the 12 largest areas from March 2007 to March 2008. Education and health services had the highest percentage increase in employment in seven areas among those industries adding at least 1,000 jobs: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington.

Houston, the area with the fastest rate of employment growth in March 2008, also added the largest number of jobs over the year, 80,100. New York ranked second with the addition of 65,500 jobs, and Dallas, the area with the second fastest rate of growth, followed with 58,200. In 8 of the 12 areas – Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Philadelphia, – the education and health services supersector added the most jobs. In two areas – Atlanta and Washington – government had the largest numerical increase, while professional and business services led in Houston and San Francisco.

Chart B.  Over-the-year percent change in employment, 12 largest metropolitan areas and the United States, March 2007-March 2008

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. Metropolitan Area, 1 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.

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, 2007. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/bulletins/fy2008/b08-01.pdf.

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.

 

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 Midwest Information Office at (312) 353-1880 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET.