New BLS Data Show USVI Jobs Rose 1.2% in First Quarter as Wage Growth Lagged Nation

The number of jobs captured by one of the federal government’s broadest employment datasets increased in the U.S. Virgin Islands during the first quarter of 2026, even as wage growth in the territory remained well behind the national pace. New figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show approximately 34,900 jobs in the Virgin Islands in March, up 1.2 percent from March 2025. National employment measured through the same program increased just 0.1 percent over the year. The figures come from BLS’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, known as QCEW. The program primarily uses unemployment-insurance records submitted by employers and, in the Virgin Islands data, counts workers covered by unemployment insurance and the federal unemployment compensation program for federal employees. BLS refers to these jobs as “covered employment.” That means the 34,900 figure should not be interpreted as a count of every person working in the Virgin Islands. It is an employ...