EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 P.M. EST, NOVEMBER 26, 1999 (FRIDAY)
Public Information Office CB99-229
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov
Irma Harahush
301-457-3314
Retail Sales on U.S. Virgin Islands Exceed $1 Billion,
Census Bureau Reports
The retail trade sector of the U.S. Virgin Islands economy produced
$1.1 billion in sales in 1997, up 20 percent over 1992, the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau reported today.
Retail was the largest of the five sectors covered by the 1997 Economic
Census of the Virgin Islands. Other sectors were wholesale trade,
manufactures (excluding selected industries), construction and service
industries. Retail trade accounted for nearly one-half of the $2.3 billion
in 1997 sales or revenues reported for all the covered sectors.
Service establishments, which provide a variety of amusement, personal,
lodging, transportation and other services, reported receipts of
$655.4 million and employed 7,289 people at 667 locations.
Many kinds of retail and services businesses benefitted directly from
the prominent role played by tourism in the Virgin Islands' economy. For
example:
- Jewelry stores sold $248.7 million worth of merchandise.
- Restaurants and bars reported sales totaling $97.5 million.
- Hotels and motels had receipts of $123.8 million.
The report, 1997 Economic Census of Outlying Areas: Virgin
Islands -- Construction Industries, Manufactures, Wholesale Trade,
Retail Trade and Service Industries, is available on the Census
Bureau's Internet site.
Other highlights include:
- Between 1992 and 1997, while employment in Virgin Islands'
construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade and service
establishments remained stable, annual payroll rose from $338.2
million to $382.3 million.
- The islands' 115 wholesale establishments generated sales of
$252.4 million in 1997; employment at these establishments increased
from 1,030 in 1992 to 1,144 in 1997.
- The construction sector saw increases in the number of establishments
(from 147 to 203), receipts (from $168.9 million to $184.5 million)
and employment (from 2,224 to 2,623) between 1992 and 1997.
The 1997 census of the Virgin Islands was conducted by mail. Data were
collected for only businesses with payrolls. Prior censuses were taken by
personal interview and included nonemployer businesses.
Data for the 1997 Economic Census of the Virgin Islands are reported on
a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) basis, but future censuses will
use the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which shows
data for more than 350 new industries and 10 new sectors.
All data compiled are subject to nonsampling errors. Nonsampling errors
can be attributed to many sources: inability to identify all cases in the
actual universe; definition and classification difficulties; differences
in the interpretation of questions; errors in recording or coding the data
obtained; and other errors of collection, response, coverage, processing
and estimation for missing or misreported data.
-X-
