NEWS Release - Employment up in 308 of the 342 largest U.S. counties, December 2014 to December 2015
From December 2014 to December 2015, employment increased in 308 of the 342 U.S. counties with 75,000 or more jobs. Williamson, Tennessee (part of the Nashville area), had the largest percentage increase with a gain of 6.8 percent over the year, above the national job growth rate of 1.9 percent. Within Williamson, the largest employment increase occurred in professional and business services.
Ector, Texas (part of the Midland–Odessa area), had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the largest counties in the United States, with a loss of 11.8 percent. Within Ector, natural resources and mining had the largest decrease in employment.
Among the 10 largest counties, 9 had over-the-year percentage increases in employment in December 2015. Dallas, Texas, had the largest gain (3.9 percent). Within Dallas, trade, transportation, and utilities had the largest over-the-year employment level increase. Harris, Texas (in the Houston area), had the only percentage decrease in employment among the 10 largest counties.
In December 2015, national employment was 141.9 million (as measured by the QCEW program). Over the year, from December 2014 to December 2015, employment increased 1.9 percent. In December 2015, the 342 U.S. counties with 75,000 or more jobs accounted for 72.5 percent of total U.S. employment. These 342 counties had a net job growth accounting for 81.4 percent of the overall U.S. employment increase for the year.
The five counties with the largest increases in employment were Los Angeles, Dallas, Maricopa, New York, and Cook; together their combined over-the-year employment increase was 12 percent of the increase for the United States as a whole.
These data are from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. To learn more, see "County Employment and Wages: Fourth Quarter 2015" (HTML) (PDF). Data for 2015 are preliminary and subject to revision.
page source http://www.bls.gov/
