Robust or Ailing? Census Examines Health of V.I. Economy

The U.S. Census Bureau, together with the V.I. Bureau of Economic Research, is conducting an Economic Survey in the territory. (Shutterstock image)

How many businesses operate in the Virgin Islands? How many of those are insurance or financial services companies? How many are directly tourism-related? Or involved with health or education or housing? All combined, how much do they pay annually in wages?

All those questions and more are supposed to be answered by an Economic Survey conducted every five years on years that end in a numeral “2” or a “7.”

Theoretically, the 2022 census was begun the first few months of this year. The V.I. Bureau of Economic Research, which is partnering on the project with the U.S. Census Bureau, issued a press release in February saying it was sending questionnaires to all territory businesses that had employees in 2022. A response to the survey was “mandatory,” according to the release, which urged cooperation.

The survey, it added, would “aid in economic development and regional and workforce development planning.”

Officials from the Census Bureau are in the territory this week, meeting with business organizations and working to get the word out about the importance of the survey, which they said is still ongoing.

Bobby Nusz, a longtime Census official, did not reply directly about how many V.I. businesses had met a March 15 deadline for completing the survey, but he said a tepid initial response is not unusual or unique to the territory.

Typically, he said, only about half of businesses being surveyed comply by the initial deadline. Many get extensions, especially since the deadline comes in the middle of tax season, already a busy time for companies.

“It’s a burden on the businesses. We recognize that,” he said. “We try to make it as easy as we can.”

Businesses can fill out the questionnaire online, by mailed paper forms or in phone interviews, according to the V.I. Bureau of Economic Research release.

The information obtained from the survey is golden. It will be used to determine the territory’s GDP (gross domestic product) for the next five years, Nusz said.

His Census Bureau colleague, Lynda Lee, added that, in essence, the data is a gauge of the territory’s economic health.

They emphasized that all information is kept strictly confidential. The bureau is only interested in aggregate data, not any individual business’s numbers.

Anyone handling the responses from businesses must pass a background check, go through training about confidentiality, and take an oath of confidentiality, Nusz said. “It’s a rigorous process.” Currently, there are three people with that sworn status working on the V.I. survey, and more will be added.

The results of the survey “will be a valuable resource for businesses, researchers and policymakers,” the V.I. Bureau of Economic Research said. It also said results would be available in 2023.

But Nusz said Wednesday that the survey will be ongoing during much of 2023 and results will be published by the Census Bureau in July of 2024.

Like that for the other small island territories, the Virgin Islands survey involves all businesses operating in the jurisdiction. This is different from the process used for states. For those, the Census Bureau uses information for a statistical sampling of businesses to get similar data.