Total nonfarm employment for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC, metropolitan area stood at 816,100 in February 2025, 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 the Virginia Beach area were little changed over the year, the national rate of job gain was 1.2 percent. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year net change for total nonfarm employment in the Virginia Beach metropolitan area, February 2022–February 2025

Period	Net change (in thousands)
Feb 2022	19.3
Mar 2022	19.5
Apr 2022	22.4
May 2022	21.6
Jun 2022	18.9
Jul 2022	16.7
Aug 2022	18.7
Sep 2022	21.4
Oct 2022	15.8
Nov 2022	15.3
Dec 2022	14.5
Jan 2023	23.5
Feb 2023	20.3
Mar 2023	18.3
Apr 2023	16.4
May 2023	16.6
Jun 2023	19.7
Jul 2023	18.3
Aug 2023	15.8
Sep 2023	17.9
Oct 2023	19.0
Nov 2023	14.5
Dec 2023	15.7
Jan 2024	14.3
Feb 2024	13.5
Mar 2024	14.6
Apr 2024	14.2
May 2024	12.1
Jun 2024	10.1
Jul 2024	8.8
Aug 2024	9.5
Sep 2024	9.9
Oct 2024	7.7
Nov 2024	9.1
Dec 2024	10.2
Jan 2025	7.1
Feb 2025	3.5

In Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC, the education and health services supersector added 6,000 jobs from February 2024 to February 2025. Within this supersector, health care and social assistance accounted for an increase of 5,000 jobs. (See chart 2.) The 4.9-percent rise in the metropolitan area’s education and health services supersector compared to the 3.5-percent gain on a national level.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year net change for industry supersector employment in the Virginia Beach metropolitan area, February 2025

Industry	Net change (in thousands)
Education and health services*	6.0
Leisure and hospitality	1.2
Other services	0.4
Professional and business services	0.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	-0.2
Information	-0.5
Financial activities	-1.5
Manufacturing	-2.1
Mining, logging, and construction	-2.9
Note: An asterisk indicates statistical significance at the 90-percent confidence level. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for March 2025 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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 July 21, 2023.

The Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, 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 Camden, Currituck, and Gates Counties 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	Feb 2024	Dec 2024	Jan 2025	Feb 2025(p)	Feb 2024 to Feb 2025(p)
						Net change	Percent change
United States(1)
Total nonfarm		156,007	159,923	157,095	157,950	1,943	1.2
Mining and logging		623	623	619	619	-4	-0.6
Construction		7,832	8,219	7,955	7,989	157	2.0
Manufacturing		12,800	12,786	12,676	12,709	-91	-0.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities		28,605	29,799	29,015	28,881	276	1.0
Information		2,939	2,964	2,905	2,922	-17	-0.6
Financial activities		9,096	9,235	9,173	9,185	89	1.0
Professional and business services		22,392	22,707	22,193	22,330	-62	-0.3
Education and health services		26,248	27,093	26,857	27,160	912	3.5
Leisure and hospitality		16,116	16,672	16,263	16,355	239	1.5
Other services		5,869	5,982	5,939	5,958	89	1.5
Government		23,487	23,843	23,500	23,842	355	1.5
Virginia Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm		812.6	828.0	815.9	816.1	3.5	0.4
Mining, logging, and construction		41.8	41.5	39.6	38.9	-2.9	-6.9
Manufacturing		59.4	58.1	57.4	57.3	-2.1	-3.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities		129.1	135.4	129.4	128.9	-0.2	-0.2
Information		8.5	8.1	8.1	8.0	-0.5	-5.9
Financial activities		41.8	40.8	40.4	40.3	-1.5	-3.6
Professional and business services		122.0	122.9	122.1	122.0	0.0	0.0
Education and health services		122.9	127.3	127.3	128.9	6.0	4.9
Leisure and hospitality		88.6	91.6	90.3	89.8	1.2	1.4
Other services		35.1	35.6	35.3	35.5	0.4	1.1
Government		163.4	166.7	166.0	166.5	3.1	1.9
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