Total nonfarm employment for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 3,040,900 in April 2020, down 301,000, or 9.0 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count decreased 12.9 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that in April the Washington area has had its largest over-the-year employment decrease since the series began in 1990. (See chart 1 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.)

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of two metropolitan divisions--separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division, with 82 percent of the area’s employment, lost 239,100 jobs over the year. The Silver Spring-Frederick-Rockville, MD Metropolitan Division, which represented the remaining 18 percent of area employment, lost 61,900 jobs since April 2019.

Industry employment

In the greater Washington metropolitan area, leisure and hospitality had the largest employment decrease from April 2019 to April 2020, losing 157,000 jobs. The Washington area’s 46.7-percent decrease in leisure and hospitality employment compared to the 47.2-percent decrease nationally. (See chart 2.) Eighty-five percent of the local job losses in this supersector were in the Washington division.

Education and health services (-56,400) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-44,500) had the next largest over-the-year local job losses. The local rate of job loss in education and health service (-12.5 percent) was higher than the 8.7-percent loss for the nation. Trade, transportation, and utilities employment decreased 11.1 percent in the Washington area, compared to 10.6 percent nationally.

Over-the-year job losses in the remaining local area supersectors ranged from 10,800 in professional and business services to 1,200 in financial activities.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in April 2020. All 12 areas had over-the-year job loss during the period, with the rates of job loss in 6 areas exceeding the national decrease of 12.9 percent. New York-Newark-Jersey City had the highest rate of job loss (-19.6 percent), followed by Boston-Cambridge-Nashua (-16.7 percent). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (-7.6 percent each) had the slowest rates of job loss. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York lost the largest number of jobs over the year (-1,949,600), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (-916,200). The smallest employment loss occurred in Phoenix (-164,000). Annual losses in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 610,900 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to 265,700 in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land.

Over the year, leisure and hospitality lost the most jobs in all 12 metropolitan areas. New York had the largest loss of jobs for this sector (-626,900), followed by Los Angeles (-321,500). Phoenix had the smallest job loss for the leisure and hospitality sector (-90,500). The remaining nine areas had job losses of over 100,000 for this industry sector.

The information sector posted annual gains in four areas: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.

Metropolitan area employment data for May 2020 are scheduled to be released on Friday, June 19, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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 between State employment security agencies and 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 2012 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria.

For some employment series, the sample of establishments is very small or highly variable. In these cases, a model-based approach is used in estimation. These models use the direct sample estimates (described above), combined with forecasts of historical (benchmarked) data to decrease volatility in estimation. Two different models (Fay-Herriot Model and Small Domain Model) are used depending on the industry level being estimated. For more detailed information about each model, refer to the BLS Handbook of Methods.

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 the total private employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Measures of sampling error for more detailed series at the area and division level are available upon request. Measures of sampling error for states down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this release. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.pdf.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes the District of Columbia; Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, 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 includes the District of Columbia; Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, 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 Silver Spring-Frederick-Rockville, Md. Metropolitan Division includes Frederick and Montgomery Counties in Maryland.

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 online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.