Total nonfarm employment for the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, stood at 801,700 in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that while employment levels in Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, were little changed over the year, the national rate of job gain was 2.6 percent. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Industry employment

In Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, education and health services had the largest increase (+7,600) among the metropolitan area’s private-industry supersectors. (See chart 2.) Most of the employment gain within this supersector was concentrated in the health care and social assistance sector (+5,400). The 6.8-percent rise in the metropolitan area’s education and health services supersector compared to the 4.5-percent rise on a national level.

Leisure and hospitality gained 7,200 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area. Within this supersector, accommodation and food services accounted for 6,500 of the jobs gained. The metropolitan area had a 7.9-percent gain compared to the 5.4-percent increase for the nation in this supersector.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for June 2023 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the CES program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. More information about the CES data is available in the State Employment and Unemployment Summary and the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary.

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 2022 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria. For some employment series, the estimates are produced with a model that uses direct sample estimates (described above) combined with other regressors to compensate for smaller sample sizes.

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. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available in the CES State and Area benchmark article.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample surveys, administrative data, and modeling 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 also are 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 specific estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal totals shown in the same tables due to rounding.

Employment estimates. Changes in metropolitan area nonfarm payroll employment are cited in the analysis of this release only if they have been determined to be statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level. Reliability of state and area estimates for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this news release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. The 12 metropolitan areas discussed in this release are the metropolitan areas with the largest population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area 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.

Additional information

Employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

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	May 2022	Mar 2023	Apr 2023	May 2023(p)	May 2022 to May 2023(p)
						Net change	Percent change
United States(1)
Total nonfarm		152,291	154,440	155,386	156,306	4,015	2.6
Mining and logging		597	628	634	640	43	7.2
Construction		7,783	7,657	7,824	7,973	190	2.4
Manufacturing		12,768	12,933	12,942	12,953	185	1.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities		28,423	28,588	28,583	28,716	293	1.0
Information		3,056	3,072	3,074	3,066	10	0.3
Financial activities		9,015	9,039	9,075	9,099	84	0.9
Professional and business services		22,455	22,665	22,889	22,993	538	2.4
Education and health services		24,196	25,179	25,269	25,274	1,078	4.5
Leisure and hospitality		15,938	16,060	16,366	16,800	862	5.4
Other services		5,698	5,795	5,827	5,868	170	3.0
Government		22,362	22,824	22,903	22,924	562	2.5
Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm		788.9	791.0	796.9	801.7	12.8	1.6
Mining, logging, and construction		40.6	40.9	40.9	41.7	1.1	2.7
Manufacturing		57.6	58.3	58.3	58.3	0.7	1.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities		129.7	127.1	127.3	127.3	-2.4	-1.9
Information		9.3	9.1	9.1	9.1	-0.2	-2.2
Financial activities		40.2	40.2	40.6	40.1	-0.1	-0.2
Professional and business services		119.9	116.3	115.9	118.1	-1.8	-1.5
Education and health services		112.0	117.8	118.3	119.6	7.6	6.8
Leisure and hospitality		91.0	90.9	95.2	98.2	7.2	7.9
Other services		33.1	33.2	33.6	33.2	0.1	0.3
Government		155.5	157.2	157.7	156.1	0.6	0.4
Footnotes (1) U.S. data are preliminary for two months after they are first published. (p) Preliminary
SOURCE: Current Employment Statistics - National - State and Metropolitan Area