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).

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)

Area	Back 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		156,132	157,210	158,001	158,918	2,786	1.8
Mining and logging		640	640	633	633	-7	-1.1
Construction		8,024	7,971	8,116	8,278	254	3.2
Manufacturing		12,910	12,904	12,907	12,940	30	0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities		28,699	28,702	28,735	28,892	193	0.7
Information		3,039	3,003	2,996	2,995	-44	-1.4
Financial activities		9,164	9,170	9,174	9,200	36	0.4
Professional and business services		22,872	22,727	22,907	22,987	115	0.5
Education and health services		25,210	26,182	26,297	26,269	1,059	4.2
Leisure and hospitality		16,782	16,478	16,750	17,194	412	2.5
Other services		5,830	5,853	5,890	5,927	97	1.7
Government		22,962	23,580	23,596	23,603	641	2.8
Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm		805.5	816.3	819.5	822.6	17.1	2.1
Mining, logging, and construction		40.7	43.7	43.6	44.2	3.5	8.6
Manufacturing		58.4	59.8	59.9	59.8	1.4	2.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities		129.5	129.9	130.3	131.0	1.5	1.2
Information		9.1	8.9	8.8	8.9	-0.2	-2.2
Financial activities		42.5	43.0	43.5	43.6	1.1	2.6
Professional and business services		121.4	121.2	121.7	121.9	0.5	0.4
Education and health services		116.2	122.2	123.1	122.9	6.7	5.8
Leisure and hospitality		95.4	91.8	93.6	96.3	0.9	0.9
Other services		34.5	34.8	35.2	35.2	0.7	2.0
Government		157.8	161.0	159.8	158.8	1.0	0.6
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