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News Release Information

25-143-PHI
Friday, January 31, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Richmond Area Employment — December 2024

Total nonfarm employment for the Richmond, VA, metropolitan area increased by 22,400 over the year in December, 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, 3.1 percent, compared to the 1.4-percent national increase. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Industry employment

In Richmond, VA, education and health services had the largest gain (9,300) among the private-industry supersectors. The metropolitan area had an 8.6-percent rate of employment increase, compared to 3.8 percent for the nation. (See chart 2.) Within the supersector, the health care and social assistance sector added 7,900 jobs over the year.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for January 2025 is scheduled to be released on Friday, March 21, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Upcoming Changes to Metropolitan Statistical Area Delineations and Benchmarking

With the release of January 2025 data on March 17, 2025, all nonfarm payroll employment estimates for states and areas presented in tables 3 and 4 of this news release will be adjusted to 2024 benchmark levels. Additionally, Current Employment Statistics (CES) metropolitan statistical area (MSA) estimates will be updated to reflect the revised delineations based on the 2020 Census, available in OMB Bulletin No. 23-01. As a result of this update, new MSAs will be added to publication, some existing MSAs will undergo name and/or compositional changes, and other existing areas will be dropped from publication. More information about MSA definitions in the CES program is available online. Details of these changes will be published in the annual CES State and Area benchmark article on March 17, 2025.


Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the CES program. More information about the CES data is available in the State Employment and Unemployment Summary and the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary. See the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Technical Note for more information on definitions and methodology.

Reliability of the employment 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. 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. Documentation on the reliability of state and area estimates is available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this news release reflect the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineations issued on April 10, 2018.

The Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area 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.

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 Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area,
not seasonally adjusted (in thousands)
Area Back
data
Dec
2023
Oct
2024
Nov
2024
Dec
2024(1)
Dec 2023 to
Dec 2024(1)
Net
change
Percent
change

United States

Total nonfarm

158,269 160,030 160,539 160,458 2,189 1.4

Mining and logging

642 641 640 634 -8 -1.2

Construction

8,051 8,462 8,378 8,242 191 2.4

Manufacturing

12,991 12,866 12,891 12,898 -93 -0.7

Trade, transportation, and utilities

29,648 29,150 29,581 29,842 194 0.7

Information

3,028 2,990 3,003 3,020 -8 -0.3

Financial activities

9,265 9,284 9,291 9,317 52 0.6

Professional and business services

22,965 23,125 23,124 23,045 80 0.3

Education and health services

25,980 26,834 26,992 26,962 982 3.8

Leisure and hospitality

16,485 16,951 16,761 16,784 299 1.8

Other services

5,846 5,920 5,926 5,917 71 1.2

Government

23,368 23,807 23,952 23,797 429 1.8

Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area

Total Nonfarm

718.7 739.2 743.6 741.1 22.4 3.1

Mining, logging, & construction

42.3 46.4 46.3 45.3 3.0 7.1

Manufacturing

32.4 32.2 32.1 32.0 -0.4 -1.2

Trade, transportation, & utilities

134.6 131.6 136.1 138.0 3.4 2.5

Information

7.0 6.8 6.9 6.9 -0.1 -1.4

Financial activities

59.0 59.1 58.5 58.3 -0.7 -1.2

Professional & business services

121.4 124.3 122.7 121.4 0.0 0.0

Educational & health services

107.7 114.6 115.5 117.0 9.3 8.6

Leisure & hospitality

66.1 69.4 69.2 69.0 2.9 4.4

Other services

33.1 33.4 33.8 33.4 0.3 0.9

Government

115.1 121.4 122.5 119.8 4.7 4.1

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

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, January 31, 2025