Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,430,400 in August 2020, down 366,600, or 7.6 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count decreased by 7.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that Chicago’s over-the-year employment loss in August was less than the 396,700 jobs lost in July. (The Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Chicago metropolitan area is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 80 percent of the area’s workforce, lost 291,600 jobs from August a year ago, followed by 35,300 jobs lost in the Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division. Over the year, the Elgin Metropolitan Division and the Gary Metropolitan Division posted declines of 25,300 jobs and 14,400 jobs, respectively.

Industry employment

In the greater Chicago metropolitan area, leisure and hospitality had the largest employment decline from August 2019 to August 2020, losing 128,700 jobs. The Chicago area’s 25.0-percent rate of job loss in leisure and hospitality compared to a nationwide decline of 23.2 percent. (See chart 2.)

Chicago’s second-largest employment loss occurred in professional and business services, which lost 59,200 jobs from August 2019 to August 2020. The 6.9-percent decrease in Chicago’s professional and business services supersector employment compared to a 6.0-percent loss nationally.

The remaining supersectors had job losses ranging from 200 to 45,300.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Chicago was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2020. All 12 areas had over-the-year job losses during the period, with the rates of job losses in 7 areas exceeding the national decrease of 7.0 percent. New York-Newark-Jersey City had the fastest rate of job loss (-11.8 percent), followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (-11.3 percent). Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (-3.5 percent) had the slowest rate of job loss. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York lost the largest number of jobs over the year (-1,176,100), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (-633,000). The smallest employment loss occurred in Phoenix (-77,300). Annual losses in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 366,600 in Chicago to 126,500 in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell.

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 (-404,900), followed by Los Angeles (-251,900). Phoenix had the smallest job loss for the leisure and hospitality sector (-48,100). The remaining nine areas had job losses ranging from 128,700 in Chicago to 50,400 in Atlanta for this industry sector.

Three areas had job gains over 1,000 within at least one supersector from August 2019 to August 2020: Dallas (financial activities), Phoenix (trade, transportation, and utilities; education and health services; and other services), and Washington (government).

Metropolitan area employment data for September 2020 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

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 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 2017 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 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 surveys, 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 for the total nonfarm 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 and for the private service-providing, goods-producing, total private and total nonfarm levels are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/sae/publications/benchmark-article/annual-benchmark-article.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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area 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-Arlington Heights, IL Metropolitan Division includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• The Elgin, IL Metropolitan Division includes DeKalb and Kane Counties.
• The Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division includes Lake County in Illinois and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
• The Gary, IN Metropolitan Division includes Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana.

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 CES program are also available in the news release State Employment and Unemployment and from the BLS website 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.