Payroll employment in the U.S. Virgin Islands rebounded by roughly 600 jobs in August after falling sharply in July, but the territory remains well below its employment level from a year ago and its leisure and hospitality sector continues to show a particularly steep contraction.
New preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put total nonfarm wage and salary employment at approximately 32,400 jobs in August, up from 31,800 in July. Despite that monthly recovery, the territory had about 1,200 fewer payroll jobs than in August 2025, when employment stood at 33,600 — a year-over-year decline of 3.6 percent. That represents a substantial improvement from July, when employment was down 6.5 percent from the prior year.
The largest visible contributor to the August rebound was government employment, which increased from approximately 10,300 jobs in July to 10,600 in August. Government payrolls were also 1 percent higher than a year earlier, when the sector employed about 10,500 workers. Construction rose from 1,700 jobs in July to 1,800 in August, while trade, transportation and utilities increased from 6,900 to 7,000 jobs and education and health services rose from 2,000 to 2,100.
The picture remained markedly different in leisure and hospitality. Employment in the sector stayed at approximately 5,300 jobs in August — unchanged from July — compared with about 6,600 jobs in August 2025. That leaves the sector down 19.7 percent, or roughly 1,300 payroll jobs, from a year earlier.
Although the annual decline improved from 20.9 percent in July to 19.7 percent in August, the latest figures do not show an August hiring rebound in leisure and hospitality. Employment remained at 5,300 in both months. Instead, the narrower percentage decline reflects the changing year-over-year comparison as the sector's 2025 employment level moved lower between July and August. The Consortium reported Aug. 29 that leisure and hospitality employment had fallen 20.9 percent year over year in July.
The year-over-year payroll deficit narrowed from 6.5 percent in July to 3.6 percent in August. But the latest figures show that the improvement occurred without any corresponding increase in leisure and hospitality employment, leaving one of the territory's most important private-sector employment categories roughly one-fifth below last year's level.
The divergence with Puerto Rico also continued in August. BLS estimates Puerto Rico's total nonfarm employment at approximately 958,800 jobs, 0.9 percent higher than a year earlier, while its leisure and hospitality sector employed about 104,600 workers, up 4.8 percent year over year. The comparable Virgin Islands figures were declines of 3.6 percent overall and 19.7 percent in leisure and hospitality.
The Consortium previously reported that the weak Virgin Islands hospitality employment figures have emerged alongside stronger indicators elsewhere in the tourism economy. WICO reported a 23.4 percent year-over-year increase in third-quarter revenue tied partly to strong cruise activity, while territory-wide hotel occupancy in June was reported at 73.8 percent compared with 59.1 percent a year earlier. Those indicators and payroll employment measure different aspects of the economy: stronger visitor activity or revenue does not necessarily translate proportionally into additional payroll jobs.
The August employment estimates remain preliminary. BLS says the figures represent jobs by place of work and are currently estimated from 2025 benchmark levels. Estimates following those benchmarks can be revised as additional information becomes available. The August data were released Sept. 18.
