Total nonfarm employment for the Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 772,400 in June 2015, up 9,800, or 1.3 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 2.1 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the June increase was the eighth consecutive month of over-the-year job gains  in the Virginia Beach metropolitan area. (See chart 1 and table 1. The Technical Note at the end of this release contains the metropolitan area definition. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

 

In the Virginia Beach metropolitan area, the financial activities and other services industries added  2,100 and 1,900 jobs, respectively. The local rate of job growth in each of these industries was faster than its respective national rate. The Virginia Beach area’s financial activities supersector employment grew at a 5.5-percent pace while the national rate was 2.0 percent. For the other services industry, the local job growth rate was 5.2 percent and the national rate was 1.5 percent.

Two other industries recorded local job gains of 1,000 or more since last June: trade, transportation, and utilities (1,300) and professional and business services (1,200). The rates of job growth for these industries in the Virginia Beach area were slower than their growth rates nationwide. Within the trade, transportation, and utilities industry, local employment increased 1.0 percent; national employment rose 2.0 percent. Professional and business services employment in the Virginia Beach area rose at a 1.1-percent rate; nationally, this supersector gained jobs at a 3.5-percent pace. (See chart 2.)

 

In the Virginia Beach area, no industry lost 1,000 jobs or more over the year. The information industry’s employment level was unchanged since June 2014.

Metropolitan area employment data for July 2015 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, September 1, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

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 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

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 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 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 state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

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: 1-800-877-8339.

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, dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Mathews, Surry, and York Counties and Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg cities in Virginia and Currituck County in North Carolina.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, United States and the Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area,
not seasonally adjusted (in thousands)

Area	Back data	Jun 2014	Apr 2015	May 2015	Jun 2015	Jun 2014 to Jun 2015
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		139,891	141,437	(P) 142,362	(P) 142,817	(P) 2,926	(P) 2.1
Mining and logging		900	852	(P) 839	(P) 844	(P) -56	(P) -6.2
Construction		6,310	6,254	(P) 6,439	(P) 6,572	(P) 262	(P) 4.2
Manufacturing		12,255	12,270	(P) 12,314	(P) 12,415	(P) 160	(P) 1.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities		26,407	26,571	(P) 26,791	(P) 26,940	(P) 533	(P) 2.0
Information		2,738	2,787	(P) 2,791	(P) 2,798	(P) 60	(P) 2.2
Financial activities		8,020	8,057	(P) 8,093	(P) 8,181	(P) 161	(P) 2.0
Professional and business services		19,207	19,596	(P) 19,694	(P) 19,878	(P) 671	(P) 3.5
Education and health services		21,254	22,096	(P) 22,049	(P) 21,831	(P) 577	(P) 2.7
Leisure and hospitality		15,343	14,982	(P) 15,387	(P) 15,781	(P) 438	(P) 2.9
Other services		5,635	5,629	(P) 5,669	(P) 5,719	(P) 84	(P) 1.5
Government		21,822	22,343	(P) 22,296	(P) 21,858	(P) 36	(P) 0.2
Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm		762.6	755.9	762.6	(P) 772.4	(P) 9.8	(P) 1.3
Mining, logging, and construction		34.8	35.0	36.8	(P) 37.3	(P) 2.5	(P) 7.2
Manufacturing		55.0	54.6	54.6	(P) 54.8	(P) -0.2	(P) -0.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities		129.4	127.5	128.5	(P) 130.7	(P) 1.3	(P) 1.0
Information		11.1	10.7	11.0	(P) 11.1	(P) 0.0	(P) 0.0
Financial activities		38.3	38.6	39.0	(P) 40.4	(P) 2.1	(P) 5.5
Professional and business services		105.5	106.0	106.6	(P) 106.7	(P) 1.2	(P) 1.1
Education and health services		103.5	105.0	104.2	(P) 104.4	(P) 0.9	(P) 0.9
Leisure and hospitality		93.2	85.9	89.5	(P) 93.8	(P) 0.6	(P) 0.6
Other services		36.7	36.9	37.7	(P) 38.6	(P) 1.9	(P) 5.2
Government		155.1	155.7	154.7	(P) 154.6	(P) -0.5	(P) -0.3
Footnotes (P) Preliminary
SOURCE: Current Employment Statistics - National - State and Metropolitan Area The Current Employment Statistics (CES) Survey is a monthly survey of business establishments which provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data by industry for the nation as a whole, all States, and most major metropolitan areas since 1939. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative program in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Return to Mid-Atlantic Information Office Homepage menu