Web site : www.bls.gov/ro3/ PLS - 4518
For Release:
Monday, April 6, 2009
Information: Gerald Perrins
(215) 597-3282
Media Contact: Sheila Watkins
(215) 861-5600

HIGHLIGHTS OF VIRGINIA BEACH-NORFOLK-NEWPORT NEWS, VA-NC
NATIONAL COMPENSATION SURVEY JULY 2008 (PDF)

Workers in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. metropolitan area earned an average of $16.94 per hour in July 2008, according to new survey results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor.  Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $23.29 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $14.16 for sales and related occupations.  Another occupational group, protective service, had a mean hourly wage rate of $13.89.  The NCS data available for the Virginia Beach area include earnings for 18 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups.  (See table 1.)

Within the healthcare practitioner and technical occupations group, registered nurses averaged $24.84 per hour, while licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses earned $17.06.  Cashiers, part of the sales and related occupation group, earned $8.48 per hour.  Police and sheriff’s patrol officers, an occupation within the protective services group, registered an hourly rate of $20.42, and security guards earned $9.41 per hour.

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area.  Full-time workers averaged $18.69 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $10.17.  Union workers earned $17.05 and non-union workers, $16.93.  Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $14.52 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $15.15, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $23.35.

The occupational wage data available from the NCS may be used by businesses for establishing pay plans, making decisions concerning plant relocation, and in collective bargaining negotiations.  Individuals may use such data to help choose potential careers.  NCS results also include the work level and respective earnings for occupations determined by a point factor leveling process.  The four occupational leveling factors are: knowledge, job controls and complexity, contacts, and physical environment.  Details on the NCS are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/

The NCS data provided here covered 281 establishments with one or more workers in private industry and State and local governments.  Agricultural establishments, private households, the self-employed, and the Federal Government were excluded from the survey.  This sample of establishments represented 669,900 workers in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) which consists of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg Cities, and Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Mathews, Surry, and York Counties in Virginia and Currituck County in North Carolina.

Survey Availability

Complete survey results are contained in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. National Compensation Survey July 2008 which is available in both text and PDF formats at www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm. 

For personal assistance or further information on the National Compensation Survey, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office by calling (215) 597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. 

Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, July 2008
Occupation(3) Total Full-time workers Part-time workers
Mean Relative error (4) (percent) Mean Relative error (4) (percent) Mean Relative error (4) (percent)

All workers

 $16.94 3.1 $18.69 2.7 $10.17 3.8

Management occupations

 $40.40 11.8 $40.69 11.7 – –

Business and financial operations occupations

 $26.88 6.4 $26.68 7.1 – –

Human resources, training, and labor relations specialists

 $25.30 7.2 $25.30 7.2 – –

Accountants and auditors

 $24.74 4.4 $23.07 6.3 – –

Computer and mathematical science occupations

 $24.13 9.0 $24.13 9.0 – –

Architecture and engineering occupations

 $28.24 2.7 $28.24 2.7 – –

Engineers

 $31.38 1.8 $31.38 1.8 – –

Community and social services occupations

 $18.65 11.9 $18.66 12.4 – –

Social workers

 $23.21 6.6 $23.21 6.6 – –

Education, training, and library occupations

 $26.92 7.2 $28.57 6.7 $15.12 12.0

Postsecondary teachers

 $33.34 11.6 $36.54 7.9 $15.53 32.2

Miscellaneous postsecondary teachers

 $26.92 18.2 – – – –

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

 $30.52 7.1 $31.41 4.8 – –

Elementary and middle school teachers

 $32.42 3.9 $32.42 3.9 – –

Elementary school teachers, except special education

 $31.83 2.6 $31.83 2.6 – –

Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education

 $33.68 6.0 $33.68 6.0 – –

Secondary school teachers

 $33.18 2.9 $33.18 2.9 – –

Secondary school teachers, except special and vocatApril 6, 2009.8

$32.56 1.8 – –

Other teachers and instructors

 $15.66 13.2 – – $14.35 18.8

Teacher assistants

 $12.14 4.5 $12.14 4.5 – –

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

 $23.29 11.2 $22.98 12.9 $26.55 7.9

Registered nurses

 $24.84 4.6 $24.18 5.3 $27.52 3.0

Therapists

 $26.45 7.5 $26.45 7.5 – –

Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians

 $13.28 13.7 $13.28 13.7 – –

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

 $17.06 1.5 – – – –

Healthcare support occupations

 $11.90 5.8 $12.71 9.5 $10.30 7.8

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

 $10.56 4.7 $11.07 3.6 $9.74 3.6

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

 $10.71 4.3 $11.07 3.6 $9.97 3.3

Protective service occupations

 $13.89 11.3 $15.33 11.0 $8.68 3.5

Police officers

 $20.42 4.4 $20.42 4.4 – –

Police and sheriff's patrol officers

 $20.42 4.4 $20.42 4.4 – –

Security guards and gaming surveillance officers

 $9.41 3.7 $9.91 4.7 – –

Security guards

 $9.41 3.7 $9.91 4.7 – –

Food preparation and serving related occupations

 $8.80 7.7 $10.38 2.8 $8.08 10.4

Cooks

 $8.35 11.5 – – $7.72 4.3

Food service, tipped

 $8.15 17.2 – – $8.82 21.9

Waiters and waitresses

 $3.66 33.2 – – – –

Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers

 $10.05 9.9 – – – –

Fast food and counter workers

 $7.43 3.6 – – $7.21 4.4

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

 $7.41 3.6 – – $7.19 4.6

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

 $10.85 7.1 $10.43 3.1 $11.74 19.0

Building cleaning workers

 $10.68 8.0 $10.10 3.6 $11.74 19.0

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners

 $10.89 10.3 $10.15 3.2 $11.74 19.0

Personal care and service occupations

 $9.12 12.6 – – $8.95 13.6

Child care workers

 $7.30 2.8 – – $7.18 2.0

Recreation and fitness workers

 $10.52 6.9 – – $9.74 2.5

Recreation workers

 $11.20 9.4 – – – –

Sales and related occupations

 $14.16 13.1 $16.48 10.0 $8.12 6.2

First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers

 $15.50 12.2 $15.50 12.2 – –

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

 $15.47 12.3 $15.47 12.3 – –

Retail sales workers

 $10.68 14.8 $12.39 9.8 $8.00 5.8

Cashiers, all workers

 $8.48 7.4 – – $7.20 0.7

Cashiers

 $8.48 7.4 – – $7.20 0.7

Retail salespersons

 $12.72 22.6 $14.43 22.4 $9.05 9.5

Office and administrative support occupations

 $13.74 1.8 $13.80 2.1 $13.49 2.1

Financial clerks

 $15.21 3.4 $14.27 6.8 – –

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

 – – $14.16 7.6 – –

Customer service representatives

 $13.00 5.3 $13.00 5.5 – –

Order clerks

 $10.13 6.6 – – – –

Receptionists and information clerks

 $11.77 6.2 – – – –

Stock clerks and order fillers

 $10.00 7.9 $10.44 10.6 – –

Secretaries and administrative assistants

 $13.75 5.5 $13.87 5.9 – –

Executive secretaries and administrative assistants

 $16.21 6.1 $16.42 5.8 – –

Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive

 $11.53 3.2 – – – –

Office clerks, general

 $13.10 3.8 $13.70 4.4 – –

Construction and extraction occupations

 $15.95 8.8 $16.05 8.7 – –

First-line supervisors/managers of construction trades and extraction workers

 $27.07 7.6 – – – –

Construction laborers

 $11.99 4.3 $11.99 4.3 – –

Construction equipment operators

 $15.02 4.8 $15.02 4.8 – –

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators

 $15.02 4.8 $15.02 4.8 – –

Helpers, construction trades

 $10.01 7.0 $10.02 7.4 – –

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

 $16.38 3.9 $16.93 4.0 – –

Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

 $19.08 16.1 $19.26 16.3 – –

Miscellaneous installation, maintenance, and repair workers

 $13.35 11.6 – – – –

Production occupations

 $17.19 21.1 $17.24 21.2 – –

Miscellaneous production workers

 $9.18 18.4 $9.18 18.4 – –

Transportation and material moving occupations

 $11.98 8.6 $13.04 7.7 $8.29 3.9

Bus drivers

 $14.34 3.7 $14.42 3.6 – –

Bus drivers, school

 $14.34 3.7 $14.42 3.6 – –

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

 $13.57 10.6 $13.57 10.6 – –

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

 $15.48 16.2 $15.48 16.2 – –

Laborers and material movers, hand

 $9.66 7.1 $10.72 6.8 $8.30 6.9

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

 $9.74 10.8 $11.42 10.2 $8.30 7.2

Footnotes:
(1) Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours.
(2) Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule.
(3) Workers are classified by occupation using the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.
(4) The relative standard error (RSE) is the standard error expressed as a percent of the estimate. It can be used to calculate a "confidence interval" around a sample estimate.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups may include data for categories not shown separately. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.

 

Last Modified Date: April 6, 2009