Unemployment in V.I. climbs to 9.5 percent

The Virgin Islands unemployment rate jumped to 9.5 percent in August, reflecting a continued lag in the services and tourism industries coupled with business closures that have caused the steady rise in unemployment, V.I. Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan Jr. said.

The rate increased from the July unemployment figure of 9.2 percent, which had dipped slightly after two solid months at 9.4 percent, largely because of short-term summer employment opportunities, according to the V.I. Labor Department's figures. The St. Croix unemployment rate jumped slightly to 10.6 percent, while the St. Thomas-St. John unemployment rate moved from 8.3 percent in July to 8.6 percent in August.

The U.S. unemployment rate hovered steadily at 9.1 percent for the second straight month in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While August's numbers were the latest available for the territory, Bryan said he expected the September rate to increase slightly because that is typically the toughest economic month of the year as tourism hits the doldrums before picking up near the end of the year.

"We should see a little flattening out, a little burst in the next few months," Bryan said. "Usually we get hires near the end of the year."

Boosting the upcoming months' data should be the 150 new hires at Home Depot on St. Croix and the reopening of Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort on St. Thomas, which will pull 274 employees off unemployment payroll, Bryan said.

The combination of those two situations, along with the seasonal uptick in tourism and a number of large projects planned by HOVENSA should combine to reduce the unemployment rate in the coming months as other hotels and restaurants hire additional staff in anticipation of the high tourism season, he said.

Another factor in the unemployment rate, however, has been the shrinking workforce as people leave the territory to seek opportunities elsewhere. According to the Labor Department's website, the available labor force dropped by more than 900 people this year from its peak of 51,502 in March. The combination of business closures coupled with high energy and commodity prices makes living in the territory a difficult enterprise.

"We are losing people. The stateside economy is picking up in market areas," Bryan said. "I expect to see people leaving to the states who can't find work, as well as professionals who have been affected here by the 8 percent or the LEAC" - referencing the public sector salary reduction and the V.I. Water and Power Authority's Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause.

"There's a number of reasons why people are seeking opportunities in other places," he said. "It's tough making it in the Virgin Islands."

Bryan's own department lost two employees in as many months to positions stateside, he said.

St. Croix lost a larger share of workers this year, with its labor force dropping by 540 people since March, according to the Labor Department. St. Thomas, meanwhile, has lost 378 people in that same timeframe.

In addition to people leaving, Bryan said he also is seeing Virgin Islanders return after years working in the states.

"I'm seeing more and more people returning from the states after many years," he said. "There are opportunities for new businesses here."

- Contact Daniel Shea at 774-8772 ext. 457 or email dshea@dailynews.vi.

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