Total nonfarm employment for the Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 780,400 in June 2017, down 0.1 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.5 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the June decrease was the third consecutive month of over-the-year job losses 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, trade, transportation and utilities had the largest employment loss from June 2016 to June 2017, losing 3,900 jobs. The local rate of job loss in trade, transportation, and utilities was 2.9 percent while the national rate increased for this industry.

Two other supersectors had job losses of 1,000 or more over the year. Leisure and hospitality lost 2,800 jobs while financial activities lost 1,000 jobs. The local rates of job loss in leisure and hospitality and financial activities were 2.8 and 2.6 percent, respectively; nationally, employment in each of these industries increased. (See chart 2.)

In the Virginia Beach area, the largest increase in employment was in the professional and business supersector which gained 6,700 jobs from June 2016 to June 2017. The local rate of job growth for this industry, at 6.4 percent, was more than double the national rate of 3.1 percent. No other industry had over-the-year local job gains greater than 1,000.

Metropolitan area employment data for July 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, August 18, 2017, 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 2016	Apr 2017	May 2017	Jun 2017	Jun 2016 to Jun 2017
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		145,182	145,948	146,784	(p)147,407	(p)2,225	(p)1.5
Mining and logging		669	691	703	(p)716	(p)47	(p)7.0
Construction		6,899	6,765	6,938	(p)7,103	(p)204	(p)3.0
Manufacturing		12,434	12,336	12,375	(p)12,493	(p)59	(p)0.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities		27,261	27,114	27,261	(p)27,418	(p)157	(p)0.6
Information		2,796	2,723	2,720	(p)2,738	(p)-58	(p)-2.1
Financial activities		8,337	8,376	8,414	(p)8,503	(p)166	(p)2.0
Professional and business services		20,235	20,561	20,675	(p)20,841	(p)606	(p)3.0
Education and health services		22,406	23,187	23,123	(p)22,892	(p)486	(p)2.2
Leisure and hospitality		16,288	15,754	16,151	(p)16,609	(p)321	(p)2.0
Other services		5,751	5,730	5,773	(p)5,832	(p)81	(p)1.4
Government		22,106	22,711	22,651	(p)22,262	(p)156	(p)0.7
Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm		781.3	768.6	772.4	(p)780.4	(p)-0.9	(p)-0.1
Mining, logging, and construction		36.5	36.1	37.1	(p)37.2	(p)0.7	(p)1.9
Manufacturing		50.9	51.0	51.1	(p)51.0	(p)0.1	(p)0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities		134.6	128.0	129.4	(p)130.7	(p)-3.9	(p)-2.9
Information		11.5	10.9	10.9	(p)11.0	(p)-0.5	(p)-4.3
Financial activities		38.4	36.1	36.6	(p)37.4	(p)-1.0	(p)-2.6
Professional and business services		104.2	107.7	109.0	(p)110.9	(p)6.7	(p)6.4
Education and health services		110.0	112.5	110.9	(p)110.1	(p)0.1	(p)0.1
Leisure and hospitality		98.4	89.8	91.8	(p)95.6	(p)-2.8	(p)-2.8
Other services		36.3	35.9	36.2	(p)36.5	(p)0.2	(p)0.6
Government		160.5	160.6	159.4	(p)160.0	(p)-0.5	(p)-0.3
Footnotes (p) Preliminary