Workers in the U.S. Virgin Islands earned an average hourly wage of $24.82 in May 2024, significantly below the national average of $32.66, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The findings, part of the agency’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, highlight disparities in wages and employment concentrations between the territory and the rest of the United States.
Acting Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi reported that legal, management, and computer and mathematical occupations were among the highest paid in the territory, with average hourly wages of $46.21, $44.79, and $41.08, respectively. Lower-paying fields included building and grounds cleaning and maintenance at $16.51 per hour, and sales and related occupations at $17.88, according to the press release.
The OEWS data show that employment in the U.S. Virgin Islands is concentrated in a few major occupational groups. Office and administrative support roles accounted for 13.7 percent of the workforce, followed by food preparation and serving-related jobs at 12.6 percent and sales and related positions at 9.5 percent. Occupations with the lowest local employment included architecture and engineering (0.4 percent), legal (0.7 percent), and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.8 percent), the press release stated.
Office and administrative support was used to illustrate the range of available occupational data. The territory had 4,660 workers in that category, earning an average hourly wage of $20.90, below the national average of $24.12. Notable occupations within this group included 660 secretaries and administrative assistants (excluding legal, medical, and executive), 580 general office clerks, and 560 first-line supervisors. Among the best-paid positions in the group were postal service clerks, earning $30.54 per hour, and postal service mail carriers at $27.98. Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks earned $14.23 per hour, while tellers earned $15.42, the release stated. 
The report also provided location quotients, which measure the concentration of an occupation in a given area compared to the national average. The Virgin Islands showed significantly higher concentrations in several office and administrative support roles. Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks were employed at nearly eight times the national rate (7.96), while hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks were employed at nearly four times the U.S. average (3.91). The employment share for medical secretaries and administrative assistants matched the national rate, with a location quotient of 1.00, it said. 
The OEWS survey is a joint effort between the BLS and State Workforce Agencies. In this case, data collection was conducted by the Virgin Islands Labor Department. The territory’s survey included 674 establishments and achieved a response rate of 89 percent, it said.
Additional occupational and wage data for the U.S. Virgin Islands are available at https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/7800000.
For more information
Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.
