Total nonfarm employment for the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 676,100 in June 2016, up 24,400, or 3.7 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.8 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the June increase was the 72^nd consecutive month of over-the-year employment gains in the Richmond 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 greater Richmond metropolitan area, professional and business services had the largest employment gain from June 2015 to June 2016, adding 8,400 jobs. The recent advance represented a 7.9-percent rate of job growth over the year in the local area, nearly three times the nationwide advance of 2.7 percent for this industry.

The trade, transportation, and utilities supersector and the education and health services supersector each had job gains of more than 3,000. Trade, transportation, and utilities added 7,100 jobs, while education and health services gained 3,200 jobs over the year. The local 5.9-percent rate of job growth in trade, transportation and utitilies was more than three times the national 1.6-percent gain for this supersector; the 3.4-percent advance locally in education and health services employment compared to the 3.0-percent gain nationally. (See chart 2.)

Four supersectors in the Richmond area each gained between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs: the leisure and hospitality; financial activities; mining, logging, and construction; and other services. No supersector lost 1,000 or more jobs over the year.

Metropolitan area employment data for July 2016 are scheduled to be released on Friday, August 19, 2016, 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 Richmond, Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Amelia, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King and Queen, King William, Louisa, New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George, and Sussex Counties and Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg, and Richmond cities in Virginia.

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

Area	Back data	Jun 2015	Apr 2016	May 2016	Jun 2016 (1)	Jun 2015 to Jun 2016 (1)
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		142,717	143,934	144,557	145,239	2,522	1.8
Mining and logging		825	691	689	692	-133	-16.1
Construction		6,621	6,561	6,699	6,850	229	3.5
Manufacturing		12,407	12,239	12,256	12,374	-33	-0.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities		26,955	27,061	27,220	27,375	420	1.6
Information		2,755	2,785	2,742	2,802	47	1.7
Financial activities		8,168	8,210	8,249	8,337	169	2.1
Professional and business services		19,797	20,088	20,137	20,330	533	2.7
Education and health services		21,829	22,755	22,698	22,484	655	3.0
Leisure and hospitality		15,742	15,367	15,711	16,186	444	2.8
Other services		5,687	5,682	5,704	5,761	74	1.3
Government		21,931	22,495	22,452	22,048	117	0.5
Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		651.7	667.7	672.8	676.1	24.4	3.7
Mining, logging, & construction		36.6	37.5	38.0	37.8	1.2	3.3
Manufacturing		31.0	30.3	30.4	30.4	-0.6	-1.9
Trade, transportation, & utilities		120.4	126.4	127.2	127.5	7.1	5.9
Information		7.5	7.3	6.7	7.4	-0.1	-1.3
Financial activities		50.4	50.5	51.6	51.7	1.3	2.6
Professional & business services		106.5	112.7	114.9	114.9	8.4	7.9
Educational & health services		93.8	96.7	96.3	97.0	3.2	3.4
Leisure & hospitality		64.1	62.3	64.1	66.0	1.9	3.0
Other services		31.8	32.8	33.3	33.0	1.2	3.8
Government		109.6	111.2	110.3	110.4	0.8	0.7
Footnotes (1) State and regional data for the most recent month are preliminary; U.S. data are preliminary for two months.
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