Economy

Employment Growth

Employment Growth

Employment growth reflects the speed at which the economy can create and fill new jobs. While the rate of employment growth has slowed over the past year, jobs continue to be added in the Hampton Roads region.

Why is This Important?

Employment growth is an indicator of expansion in the economy that represents an increase in the economic opportunities available to the citizens of a region or the state. Employment growth is generally tracked as a percentage change from a previous year.

How is Hampton Roads Doing?

Within Virginia, the Hampton Roads region had the third lowest rate of employment growth at 0.4 percent in 2008. The Northern region had the highest rate of employment growth at 1.8 percent. The statewide rate of employment growth was 1.0 percent.

Among the peer Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA (Hampton Roads MSA) had the second lowest employment growth in 2008 at 0.4 percent. The Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA was the highest in the same year, reporting 1.9 percent employment growth. The leading Virginia MSA was the Lynchburg MSA with a 1.9 percent employment growth.

Average wages and salaries, coupled with employment growth, give an even better measure of a region's economic health. In 2008, average wages and salaries per employee were the second lowest in the Hampton Roads MSA among peer MSAs at $41,699. The leading MSA in Virginia was the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA MSA at $63,061. However, among the regions of Virginia, the Hampton Roads region was the third highest, exceeded only by the Northern and Central regions.

  

 

What Influences Employment Growth?

Some of the factors influencing employment growth in a region include the national business cycles and the mix of industries in the region. Expansions and contractions in the national economy influence employment growth due to the fluctuations in private and federal spending, as well as other factors. Furthermore, the mix of industries directly affects the magnitude of business cycle fluctuations in a region. In the Hampton Roads region, the U.S. military is a major employer and, therefore, U.S. military spending is an important influence on employment growth.