By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
The Industrial Composition by Municipality report, corresponding to the second quarter of 2022, reflected an increase in employed people, total wages, average salary per worker and establishments when compared to the same period in 2021, Labor and Human Resources (DTRH) Secretary Gabriel Maldonado González said Wednesday in a written statement.
“Once again, the reliable data published by our agency and the federal Department of Labor validate the positive economic trend that we are consistently communicating,” Maldonado González said. “In addition to a year-over-year and month-by-month improvement, if we compare the most recent numbers against the first quarter of 2021, we see an increase of 2,235 establishments, 61,199 jobs, $852,072,378 in total wages paid and $446 in average [weekly] wages per worker.”
By the second quarter of 2022, average employment in Puerto Rico was recorded at 909,709. If a comparison is made with the data for the second quarter of 2021 (861,939), an increase of 47,140 jobs is reflected. The industries with the highest average employment turned out to be retail trade (128,868), public administration (117,299), health and social assistance services (95,879), administrative services and solid waste (81,446), and manufacturing (81,046). The 10 municipalities that reflected the highest average employment are grouped as follows: San Juan (244,158), Bayamón (54,436), Guaynabo (54,229), Carolina (46,780), Ponce (46,098), Caguas (45,236), Mayagüez (30,195), Arecibo (21,505), Aguadilla (19,057) and Humacao (16,599).
The quarterly report also indicates that the wages paid by island industries totaled a little over $7 billion ($7,047,726,906). This reflects an increase of $698,099,088 when compared to the second quarter 2021 ($6,349,627,818). The industries that recorded the highest amounts of total wages were: civil service ($953,076,146); manufacturing ($814,272,597), health and social assistance services ($760,204,091), retail ($753,020,115), educational services ($610,801,607), and professional and technical services ($465,555,149).
The average salary per worker during the second quarter of 2022 stood at $7,753, which represents an additional $386 when compared to the same quarter of the previous year ($7,367). The industries with the highest average salaries were company and company management ($12,601); finance and insurance ($12,586); professional and technical services ($11,824); information ($11,025); electricity, water and gas ($10,755); wholesale trade ($10,707); manufacturing ($10,047); and transportation and warehousing ($9,643).
As for the municipalities, the report details that the towns with the highest average quarterly salaries per worker were Juncos ($13,632), Guaynabo ($9,644), San Juan ($9,510), Maunabo ($9,047) and Aguadilla ($8,978).
The report also showed a total number of establishments or units of 49,347 for the second quarter of 2022, which represents an increase of 1,799 units when compared to the previous year. The industries that reported the most establishments were: retail trade (9,045), health and social assistance services (7,764), professional and technical services (5,563), lodging and food services (5,158), other services except public administration (3,490), and construction (2,460). In turn, the municipalities with the highest number of establishments were San Juan (11,720), Bayamón (2,986), Guaynabo (2,582), Caguas (2,336), Ponce (2,304), Carolina (2,011) and Mayagüez (1,555).
The DTRH’s Quarterly Census Program of Employment and Wages, which is part of the Bureau of Statistics’ Division of Studies and Statistics, is responsible for the preparation of the report. It should be noted that the data is obtained from quarterly reports submitted by employers covered under the Puerto Rico Employment Security Act. It is one of the many statistical reports published by the DTRH for the benefit of citizens and anyone who wants to delve into and analyze the numbers that impact the Puerto Rican labor market.
More information and other reports can be found at https://www.mercadolaboral. pr.gov/.