American Samoa’s economy generated $1.3 billion in sales in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Economic Census of Island Areas: Geographic Area Series for American Samoa.

     The economic census profiles American Samoa’s economy every five years. In 2007, American Samoa had 812 businesses, including 612 with paid employees. These businesses employed 11,247 people and had an annual payroll of $132.3 million.

     The 2007 census data include statistics for American Samoa, its five districts and its 16 counties for businesses with and without paid employees. American Samoa is a U.S. territory in the South Pacific Ocean.

     Other findings:

• The manufacturing sector had $522.7 million in sales, accounting for 40.9 percent of the overall total.
• Sales in the wholesale trade sector saw the largest increase (222.1 percent) among all sectors, from $86.8 million in 2002 to $279.6 million in 2007, when sales in this sector accounted for almost 21.9 percent of the island’s total sales.
• The retail trade sector accounted for $234.6 million in sales in 2007, up from $154.6 million in 2002. The sector employed 1,747 people and had an annual payroll of $18.9 million, compared with 1,628 people and an annual payroll of $14.6 million in 2002.
• In the construction sector, sales decreased from $44.2 million in 2002 to $23.6 million in 2007, while employment decreased from 563 workers in 2002 to 450 in 2007. The number of establishments also decreased from 64 in 2002 to 31 in 2007.
• Businesses in the Eastern District reported $1.0 billion in total sales in 2007 — which accounted for 80.8 percent of the total sales reported. In 2002, these businesses had sales of $737.4 million, accounting for 74.2 percent of total sales ($993.9 million).
• In 2007, American Samoa had 75 establishments with 20 or more employees, which accounted for 9.2 percent of all businesses and 76.4 percent ($997 million) of total sales. This compared with 2002, when American Samoa had 66 establishments with 20 or more employees, accounting for 6.2 percent of all businesses and 79.9 percent ($794.4 million) of total sales.
• In 2007, American Samoa had 210 establishments with no paid employees, representing 25.9 percent of all businesses, and accounting for 0.9 percent ($11.3 million) of total sales.

     These data for American Samoa and other U.S. Island Areas are available only through the Census Bureau’s American FactFinder, an online tool that allows users to access, filter, manipulate and extract data. Data for the Northern Mariana Islands were released in March 2009. Data for Guam were released in May 2009. Data for the U.S. Virgin Islands were released in July 2009. Data for Puerto Rico will be released beginning in February 2010. More information about the Economic Census of Island Areas is available at <http://www.census.gov/econ/islandareas/index.html>.

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More information about the 2007 Economic Census of Island Areas can be found at <http://www.census.gov/econ/islandareas/index.html>. For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error and definitions, see the Methodology description at <http://www.census.gov/econ/islandareas/index.html>.