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News Release Information

24-1323-PHI
Wednesday, July 03, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Virginia Beach Area Employment — May 2024

Total nonfarm employment for Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, rose by 17,100 over the year in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that the local rate of job gain, 2.1 percent, compared to the 1.8-percent national increase. (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 added 6,700 of the 17,100 jobs gained. (See chart 2.) Within this supersector, healthcare and social assistance accounted for an increase of 4,000 jobs and education services accounted for the remaining 2,700 jobs. The 5.8-percent growth in the metropolitan area’s education and health services supersector compared to the 4.2-increase on a national level.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for June 2024 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Changes to Current Employment Statistics (CES) Data

Effective with the release of January 2024 estimates on March 11, 2024, nonfarm payroll employment estimates for states and areas have been adjusted to 2023 benchmark levels. Not seasonally adjusted data beginning with April 2022 and seasonally adjusted data beginning with January 2019 are subject to revision. Some data series have been revised as far back as 1990. See the CES State and Area benchmark article for further information.

 

Also effective with the release of January 2024 estimates, the CES program implemented a new weight smoothing procedure for state and metropolitan area employment data. Background information on weight smoothing in the Current Employment Statistics Survey is available on the BLS website


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 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

State and area employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website.

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)
AreaBack
data
May
2023
Mar
2024
Apr
2024
May
2024(p)
May 2023 to
May 2024(p)
Net
change
Percent
change

United States(1)

Total nonfarm

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU0000000001
156,132157,210158,001158,9182,7861.8

Mining and logging

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU1000000001
640640633633-7-1.1

Construction

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU2000000001
8,0247,9718,1168,2782543.2

Manufacturing

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU3000000001
12,91012,90412,90712,940300.2

Trade, transportation, and utilities

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU4000000001
28,69928,70228,73528,8921930.7

Information

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU5000000001
3,0393,0032,9962,995-44-1.4

Financial activities

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU5500000001
9,1649,1709,1749,200360.4

Professional and business services

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU6000000001
22,87222,72722,90722,9871150.5

Education and health services

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU6500000001
25,21026,18226,29726,2691,0594.2

Leisure and hospitality

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU7000000001
16,78216,47816,75017,1944122.5

Other services

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU8000000001
5,8305,8535,8905,927971.7

Government

Go to web page with historical data for series CEU9000000001
22,96223,58023,59623,6036412.8

Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area

Total nonfarm

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472600000000001
805.5816.3819.5822.617.12.1

Mining, logging, and construction

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472601500000001
40.743.743.644.23.58.6

Manufacturing

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472603000000001
58.459.859.959.81.42.4

Trade, transportation, and utilities

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472604000000001
129.5129.9130.3131.01.51.2

Information

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472605000000001
9.18.98.88.9-0.2-2.2

Financial activities

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472605500000001
42.543.043.543.61.12.6

Professional and business services

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472606000000001
121.4121.2121.7121.90.50.4

Education and health services

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472606500000001
116.2122.2123.1122.96.75.8

Leisure and hospitality

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472607000000001
95.491.893.696.30.90.9

Other services

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472608000000001
34.534.835.235.20.72.0

Government

Go to web page with historical data for series SMU51472609000000001
157.8161.0159.8158.81.00.6

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

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, July 03, 2024