Workers in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.12 in May 2022, 9 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and sales related. Production occupations were the only major occupational group with significantly higher wages than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Virginia Beach area employment was more highly concentrated in 13 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, construction and extraction, and business and financial operations. Eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, office and administrative support, and transportation and material moving. (See table A.)

One occupational group—food preparation and serving related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Virginia Beach had 69,100 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 9.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $14.40, significantly below the national wage of $15.45.

  

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Chart 1. Hourly mean wages for higher paying food preparation and serving related occupations in the Virginia Beach metropolitan area, May 2022

Occupation	Wage
All occupations	$27.12
Food preparation and serving related occupations	14.40
Chefs and head cooks	23.15
Bartenders	18.53
First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers	18.41
Cooks, institution and cafeteria	16.94
Waiters and waitresses	15.39

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the food preparation and serving related group included fast food and counter workers (21,430), waiters and waitresses (12,830), and cooks, restaurant (8,110). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were chefs and head cooks, and bartenders, with mean hourly wages of $23.15 and $18.53, respectively. (See chart 1.) At the lower end of the wage scale were hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop ($12.41) and fast food counter workers ($12.47). (Detailed data for the food preparation and serving related occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_47260.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Virginia Beach area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, fast food counter workers were employed at 1.3 times the national rate in Virginia Beach, and waiters and waitresses, at 1.2 times the U.S. average. Dishwashers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Virginia Beach, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Virginia Employment Commission and the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,228 establishments with a response rate of 50 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

Metropolitan 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.

The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Currituck County, NC; Gates County, NC; Chesapeake city, VA; Gloucester County, VA; Hampton city, VA; Isle of Wight County, VA; James City County, VA; Mathews County, VA; Newport News city, VA; Norfolk city, VA; Poquoson city, VA; Portsmouth city, VA; Suffolk city, VA; Virginia Beach city, VA; Williamsburg city, VA; and York County, VA.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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.