Virgin Islands (US)

Title of the survey

Current Employment Statistics Program

Organization responsible

Virgin Islands Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Periodicity of the survey

Monthly.

Objectives of the survey

To measure the level and trend of wage and salary employment, earnings and hours of work, by industry, in the Virgin Islands.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, earnings and hours of work.

Reference period

The pay period which includes the 12th of each month.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole territory (St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John Islands).

Industrial

All divisions of economic activity, except agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing.

Establishments

All non-agricultural establishments.

Persons

Employees. Excluded are the self-employed, volunteer workers, unpaid family workers and domestic workers.

Occupations

Data are not collected by occupation.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Employees refer to full-time and part-time employees who worked during, or received pay for, the payroll period that includes the 12th of each month. They include working directors, permanent and temporary employees and all categories of wage earners and salaried employees present on the payroll during the reference period. Persons on sick leave, vacation or holidays, who are being paid for that period by their employers, are also included. Data are collected on the total number of employees, without any distinction by sex. In selected industries (manufacturing, construction, transport, as well as in hotels and other lodging places), the distinction is made between (a) production and non-supervisory workers and (b) other employees.

Earnings

Data are collected on aggregate gross cash earnings paid during the reference period to production or non-supervisory workers in selected industries. Gross cash earnings include pay for normal time worked, premium pay for overtime and shift work, incentive pay, other regular bonuses and cost-of-living/dearness allowances, as well as remuneration for time not worked such as annual leave, vacation, public holidays, etc. Excluded from earnings are house rent allowances, family allowances, earnings in kind and irregularly paid bonuses and gratuities.

Wage/salary rates

Not relevant.

Hours of work

Data are collected on hours paid for during the reference period, for production and non-supervisory workers in selected industries. Hours paid for include normal hours of work, overtime hours, as well as hours paid for but not worked for reasons such as vacation, holidays, sick leave, civic and personal leave, meal breaks (if paid), etc.

International recommendations

The definition of earnings used in this survey complies with the international guidelines on gross cash earnings, as applied in current statistics programmes. However, they exclude the value of payments in kind. The definition of hours of work corresponds to the concept of hours paid for.

Classifications

Industrial

Data on employment, earnings and hours of work are classified according to the 1987 edition of the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, which can be converted to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.2, 1968 at the one-digit level.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Employment data are classified by sector (private sector and Government). The government sector comprises (a) the Federal Government and (b) the territorial government, which includes employees of the executive, judicial and legislative branches and independent authorities.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The reporting unit is the establishment.

Survey universe / sample frame

This consists of the Unemployment Insurance Master File, which is maintained by the V.I. Employment Security Agency. The frame is constantly updated since virtually all establishments must apply for the register when they are "born".

Sample design

The sample design is known as "sampling proportionate to average size of establishment". The frame is first stratified by industry and within each industry, by size of establishments in terms of employment, using six standard size classes. Within each industry, an optimum allocation design is obtained by sampling with probability proportionate to the average size of establishment within each of the strata. Within each strata, the sampling units are selected at random. Large establishments are included with certainty, the cut-off size being 250 employees in nearly all industries.

Field work

Data collection

The survey is conducted by post.

Survey questionnaire

Not available.

Substitution of sampling units

Not available.

Data processing and editing

Not available.

Types of estimates

Employment totals (jobs); average weekly hours and average hourly and weekly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers. Within each basic estimating cell (industry and size), monthly estimates are obtained as follows:

Construction of indices

Not available.

Weighting of sample results

Estimates of employment are generated through an annual benchmark and the monthly link relative procedure. Three basic steps are followed: Aggregate data by industry or for broad industry groups are obtained by adding the estimates of the corresponding basic cells. Independent benchmark data are not available for the hours and earnings series. Consequently, aggregate data are weighted averages of the figures for the component cells.

Adjustments

Non-response

The link relative technique avoids the need to make adjustments for missing reports. The reports with data for both the current and previous months form a matched sample and their over-the-month change is used to move the previous month's estimates.

Other bias

Not available.

Use of benchmark data

See under Weighting of sample results.

Seasonal variations

No adjustments are made for seasonal variations.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

Not available.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not available.

Non-response rate

Not available.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Not relevant.

Available series

Results published monthly include: Additional results (e.g. average hours and earnings of construction or transport workers) are not published, but can be obtained upon request.

History of the survey

The Current Employment Statistics Programme started in 1975 and since that date, it has been conducted on a regular monthly basis. Prior to 1987, the 1972 edition of the Standard Industrial Classification Manual was used to classify data by industry. Employment data are subject to revision each year, when the March benchmarks are established.

Documentation

Virgin Islands Bureau of Labor Statistics: Labour Market Review (monthly, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas). Unpublished results can be obtained, upon request, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

Not available.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

The following data are published in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics: The corresponding monthly series are published in the relevant tables of the Bulletin of Labour Statistics.