The statistical area anchored in Boston was among five of the nation's 12 largest metropolitan areas that recorded employment gains of 2 percent or lower during the one-year period ending in January 2015.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday that job growth over that period exceeded the national average of 2.3 percent in seven of its 12 largest metro areas, with the fastest growth clip of 4.4 percent registered in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area.

The slowest job growth rate, 1.5 percent, was recorded in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area, followed by Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at 1.6 percent, the labor department reported.

The bureau said total non-farm employment in the Boston-Cambridge-Nashua metropolitan area stood at 2,568,300 in January 2015, up 48,900 from one year ago, or 1.9 percent.

Sixty-four percent of the gains locally were in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area, and education and health services and professional and business services accounted for almost half the new jobs.

Job growth locally in education and health services exceeded the national increase while local growth in professional and business services trailed the national rate.

The Houston, Miami and San Francisco areas posted job gains of 3.8 percent over the one-year period, and job growth in the Atlanta area was 4.3 percent.

Public officials in Massachusetts have focused recently on addressing so-called skills and achievement gaps to boost the state's competitiveness in the jobs arena, while also aiming to tackle energy, health care and housing costs often cited as impediments to growth.

In recent financial disclosure documents, state officials noted that Biogen, located in Weston, made the largest recent leap among 12 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Massachusetts. With $6.9 billion in 2013 revenues, Biogen moved up to 375 from 474 on the list, but still trailed the other 11 Bay State firms.

Seven of the 12 Massachusetts companies moved up on the Fortune 500 list last year, while five dropped when compared to 2013 positions.

The other six that moved up were Liberty Mutual (76 from 81) TJX (108 from 115), EMC (128 from 133), Global Partners (146 from 157), Thermo Fisher Scientific (215 from 220), and Northeast Utilities (359 from 402), which recently changed its name to Eversource Energy.

The Massachusetts companies that dropped on the Fortune 500 list were Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance (96 from 94), Staples (127 from 122), Raytheon (126 from 124), State Street Corporation (275 from 268), and Boston Scientific (367 from 357).

The 25 largest private employers in Massachusetts, based on employment covered by the unemployment insurance system for June 2013, were, in alphabetical order: Baystate Medical Center Inc.; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Boston Medical Center Corporation; Boston University; Brigham & Women's Hospital Inc.; CVS Pharmacy LLC; Demoulas Super Markets Inc.; E.M.C. Corporation; General Hospital Corporation; Harvard University; Home Depot U.S.A. Inc.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Partners Healthcare Systems, Inc.; Raytheon Company; Shaw's Supermarkets Inc.; Southcoast Hospitals Group Inc.; State Street Bank & Trust Company; Target Corporation; The Children's Hospital Corporation; The Stop & Shop Supermarkets Corporation; Tufts University; UMass Memorial Medical Center; United Parcel Service Inc.; Wal-Mart Associates Inc.; and Whole Foods Market Group.