Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

14-1425-PHI
Thursday, July 31, 2014

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Richmond Area Employment — June 2014

Local Employment Rises Faster than National Rate Over the Year

Total nonfarm employment for the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 650,100 in June 2014, up 13,200 or 2.1 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count rose 1.9 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the June 2014 employment increase was the 49th consecutive over-the-year rise in the Richmond metropolitan area and the 46th nationwide. (See chart 1 and table 1. The Technical Note at the end of this release contains the metropolitan area definition. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

 

In the greater Richmond metropolitan area, the education and health services supersector gained 3,800 jobs from June 2013 to June 2014, the largest 12-month increase in over five years. The recent advance represented a 4.1-percent employment increase over the year, more than twice the national growth rate of 1.9 percent for this industry.

Three other industries in the Richmond area recorded job gains of 1,000 or more over the year: professional and business services (3,100); trade, transportation, and utilities (2,200); and financial activities (1,700). The recent increase in professional and business services was the largest 12-month gain since December 2012. The trade, transportation, and utilities supersector and the financial activities supersector have recorded uninterrupted 12-month advances in this area since June and October 2010, respectively. The local growth rates for professional and business services and trade, transportation, and utilities were lower than the national rates for these industries. The financial activities supersector grew at a 3.6-percent pace over the year in Richmond, over four times faster than the national rate. (See chart 2.)

 

In the Richmond area, no supersector lost 1,000 or more jobs over the year. 


Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Method of estimation. The employment data are estimated using a "link relative" technique in which a ratio (link relative) of current-month employment to that of the previous month is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official estimators for approximately 39 percent of CES published series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimates.

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.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey and administrative data 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 are also 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 special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Additional information
 

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

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, dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Richmond, Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) 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.

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
Jun
2013
Apr
2014
May
2014
Jun
2014 (1)
Jun 2013 to
Jun 2014 (1)
Net
change
Percent
change

United States

 

Total nonfarm

Jump to page with historical data
137,195 138,265 139,179 139,761 2,566 1.9

Mining and logging

Jump to page with historical data
873 892 900 917 44 5.0

Construction

Jump to page with historical data
6,018 5,869 6,054 6,210 192 3.2

Manufacturing

Jump to page with historical data
12,074 12,035 12,096 12,203 129 1.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

Jump to page with historical data
25,852 26,056 26,256 26,443 591 2.3

Information

Jump to page with historical data
2,694 2,655 2,653 2,668 -26 -1.0

Financial activities

Jump to page with historical data
7,933 7,886 7,919 7,997 64 0.8

Professional and business services

Jump to page with historical data
18,681 19,061 19,153 19,342 661 3.5

Education and health services

Jump to page with historical data
20,874 21,534 21,486 21,265 391 1.9

Leisure and hospitality

Jump to page with historical data
14,871 14,469 14,864 15,280 409 2.8

Other services

Jump to page with historical data
5,531 5,501 5,537 5,571 40 0.7

Government

Jump to page with historical data
21,794 22,307 22,261 21,865 71 0.3
 

Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area

 

Total Nonfarm

Jump to page with historical data
636.9 643.1 645.4 650.1 13.2 2.1

Mining, logging, & construction

Jump to page with historical data
35.0 34.8 35.2 35.3 0.3 0.9

Manufacturing

Jump to page with historical data
32.5 31.9 32.1 32.3 -0.2 -0.6

Trade, transportation, & utilities

Jump to page with historical data
118.2 119.4 119.8 120.4 2.2 1.9

Information

Jump to page with historical data
8.0 8.7 8.6 8.5 0.5 6.3

Financial activities

Jump to page with historical data
47.8 48.9 49.2 49.5 1.7 3.6

Professional & business services

Jump to page with historical data
98.6 98.9 100.5 101.7 3.1 3.1

Educational & health services

Jump to page with historical data
91.6 96.4 95.7 95.4 3.8 4.1

Leisure & hospitality

Jump to page with historical data
61.4 57.9 59.5 61.7 0.3 0.5

Other services

Jump to page with historical data
31.0 31.5 31.7 31.9 0.9 2.9

Government

Jump to page with historical data
112.8 114.7 113.1 113.4 0.6 0.5

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

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) Survey is a monthly survey of business establishments which provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data by industry for the nation as a whole, all States, and most major metropolitan areas since 1939. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative program in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Return to Mid-Atlantic Information Office Homepage menu
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014