For release: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 PLS - 4773
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Highlights of Virginia beach-norfolk-newport news
National Compensation Survey – July 2010 (PDF)

Workers in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan area earned an average of $18.80 per hour in July 2010, according to new survey results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 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 $16.42 for construction and extraction occupations and $16.30 for protective service occupations. Another occupational group, office and administrative support, had a mean hourly wage rate of $14.37. The NCS data available for the Virginia Beach area include earnings for 19 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within most of those groups. (See table 1.)

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, part of the construction and extraction occupations group, earned $15.63 per hour, and construction laborers averaged $11.52. Within the protective services group, police and sheriff’s patrol officers recorded an average hourly wage of $20.47 and security guards, $11.10.  Executive secretaries and administrative assistants, an occupation within the office and administrative group, earned $19.50 per hour and receptionists and information clerks earned $12.23 per hour.

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $20.65 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $10.07.  Union workers earned $15.64 and non-union workers, $19.00. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $17.54 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $16.75, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $23.31.

The occupational wage data available from 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 reported here covered 239 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 639,000 workers in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) which is comprised 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, VA; and Currituck County NC.

Survey Availability

Complete survey results are contained in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC National Compensation Survey July 2010 which is available on the Internet 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 data, 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 2010
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

 $18.80 3.8 $20.65 3.6 $10.07 3.6

Management occupations

 47.03 14.1 47.32 14.1 – –

General and operations managers

 36.85 20.0 36.85 20.0 – –

Business and financial operations occupations

 29.04 5.8 28.87 6.1 – –

Human resources, training, and labor relations specialists

 26.83 6.1 26.83 6.1 – –

Accountants and auditors

 26.26 4.7 – – – –

Computer and mathematical science occupations

 28.54 19.4 29.05 18.3 – –

Architecture and engineering occupations

 33.10 6.0 33.10 6.0 – –

Engineers

 35.63 1.7 35.63 1.7 – –

Community and social services occupations

 20.62 5.2 20.72 5.6 – –

Education, training, and library occupations

 25.46 4.0 26.43 4.8 16.46 14.1

Postsecondary teachers

 35.47 9.2 36.20 8.1 – –

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

 31.27 6.8 32.14 4.5 – –

Elementary and middle school teachers

 33.18 3.5 33.18 3.5 – –

Elementary school teachers, except special education

 32.43 2.9 32.43 2.9 – –

Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education

 34.96 3.3 34.96 3.3 – –

Secondary school teachers

 33.84 3.0 33.84 3.0 – –

Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education

 33.01 1.0 33.01 1.0 – –

Other teachers and instructors

 15.26 22.0 – – 15.26 22.0

Teacher assistants

 12.35 6.1 12.35 6.1 – –

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

 29.84 21.4 – – – –

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

 28.95 16.4 28.74 18.2 31.37 13.9

Registered nurses

 26.65 1.2 26.40 1.9 28.18 2.1

Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians

 14.34 7.3 14.34 7.3 – –

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

 18.09 4.5 – – – –

Healthcare support occupations

 11.29 3.3 11.70 1.2 10.13 8.8

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

 10.81 3.9 11.52 0.3 9.01 6.3

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

 10.81 3.9 11.52 0.3 9.01 6.3

Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations

 12.35 3.2 – – – –

Protective service occupations

 16.30 11.4 18.12 10.4 8.86 3.9

Police officers

 20.47 2.8 20.47 2.8 – –

Police and sheriff's patrol officers

 20.47 2.8 20.47 2.8 – –

Security guards and gaming surveillance officers

 11.10 5.7 11.97 6.2 – –

Security guards

 11.10 5.7 11.97 6.2 – –

Food preparation and serving related occupations

 8.50 4.0 11.42 10.2 6.92 9.9

First-line supervisors/managers, food preparation and serving workers

 15.50 5.6 15.50 5.6 – –

Cooks

 10.34 14.4 – – 9.25 12.0

Food service, tipped

 5.98 24.0 – – 5.58 28.6

Waiters and waitresses

 2.59 16.9 – – 2.69 18.4

Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers

 10.37 8.1 – – – –

Fast food and counter workers

 8.51 6.5 – – 8.02 3.3

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

 8.48 6.3 – – 7.97 3.1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

 10.25 5.8 10.18 5.5 10.52 8.1

Building cleaning workers

 10.16 7.8 10.04 8.1 10.52 8.1

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners

 11.06 3.9 11.34 2.3 10.52 8.1

Personal care and service occupations

 8.64 12.0 – – 9.84 10.7

Child care workers

 7.94 2.7 – – – –

Recreation and fitness workers

 12.04 9.1 – – 11.06 10.0

Sales and related occupations

 16.01 16.6 17.84 14.9 8.74 3.8

First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers

 18.25 5.8 18.25 5.8 – –

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

 18.26 5.9 18.26 5.9 – –

Retail sales workers

 13.26 25.1 15.28 23.7 8.72 3.9

Cashiers, all workers

 8.82 5.4 10.05 4.9 7.61 2.0

Cashiers

 8.82 5.4 10.05 4.9 7.61 2.0

Retail salespersons

 15.74 28.1 17.49 26.3 9.99 7.6

Office and administrative support occupations

 14.37 2.5 14.79 3.0 12.31 9.3

Financial clerks

 14.97 3.9 14.68 6.2 – –

Bill and account collectors

 15.14 8.4 15.05 8.8 – –

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

 15.95 6.5 – – – –

Customer service representatives

 12.56 7.7 12.55 8.2 – –

Receptionists and information clerks

 12.23 5.3 13.00 2.0 – –

Secretaries and administrative assistants

 16.15 7.2 16.17 7.5 – –

Executive secretaries and administrative assistants

 19.50 9.2 19.71 9.0 – –

Office clerks, general

 13.75 10.5 15.10 9.5 – –

Construction and extraction occupations

 16.42 5.1 16.41 4.4 – –

Construction laborers

 11.52 4.1 11.52 4.1 – –

Construction equipment operators

 15.63 4.7 15.63 4.7 – –

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators

 15.63 4.7 15.63 4.7 – –

Helpers, construction trades

 10.13 9.0 9.86 6.0 – –

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

 19.97 11.5 21.27 10.0 – –

Automotive technicians and repairers

 25.68 3.4 25.68 3.4 – –

Automotive service technicians and mechanics

 25.74 3.6 25.74 3.6 – –

Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

 17.40 5.8 – – – –

Miscellaneous installation, maintenance, and repair workers

 15.16 5.8 – – – –

Production occupations

 18.39 18.5 18.43 18.7 – –

Welding, soldering, and brazing workers

 17.95 1.6 17.95 1.6 – –

Transportation and material moving occupations

 12.35 4.5 13.09 3.9 – –

Bus drivers

 14.63 0.2 14.65 0.0 – –

Bus drivers, school

 14.63 0.2 14.65 0.0 – –

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

 14.10 10.0 14.10 10.0 – –

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

 15.03 16.6 15.03 16.6 – –

Industrial truck and tractor operators

 13.96 7.5 – – – –

Laborers and material movers, hand

 10.69 3.8 10.89 4.3 – –

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

 11.45 8.3 11.71 9.7 – –

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 5, 2011