US Census: NMI payroll at $131.4 million in 2009

A U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday says that the CNMI reported a total of 1,232 business establishments in 2009, with more than 10,188 employees and a total annual payroll of $131.4 million.

Two years later, the numbers would be much lower considering that the remaining Saipan garment factories closed in early 2009, and the CNMI economy has suffered not only from the garment industry’s demise but also from declining tourism arrivals.

This is the first time that the Census Bureau’s reporting on county business patterns has been expanded to include economic statistics for the four island areas of the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico statistics have been previously published.

The CNMI ranks fourth among five island areas in terms of annual employee payroll in 2009.

Topping the list is Puerto Rico with more than 45,500 establishments with over 702,000 employees and an annual payroll of $16.2 billion.

The U.S. Virgin Islands came second with 2,845 establishments with total annual payroll of $1 billion.

Guam reported a total of 3,235 establishments with total annual payroll of $1.2 billion, while the CNMI reported 1,232 establishments with total annual payroll of $131.4 million.

American Samoa ranked fifth with 458 establishments with a total annual payroll of $120.2 million.

The Census said county business patterns exclude those who were self-employed, employees of private households, railroad employees, agriculture production workers and most government employees.

Nationwide, businesses with paid employees numbered 7.4 million in 2009, a decline of 168,000 establishments from 2008. This marked the second consecutive year of decline, the U.S. Census Bureau said.

Between 2008 and 2009, U.S. employment dropped 5.3 percent, a decrease of more than 6 million employees, for a total of 114,509,626.

Among the top 50 counties in the United States by number of establishments, the county with the largest decline in average annual payroll per employee was New York with an 11.4 percent decrease. Payroll decreased from $102,000 per employee in 2008 to $90,000 per employee in 2009.

The U.S. Census Bureau report shows that most employers in the CNMI in 2009 were in accommodation and food services, at 3,303; followed by retail trade, 1,529, and administration/support/waste management/remediation services. The rest are divided among 14 other industries or establishment types.

In early 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau released the results of the 2007 Economic Census of the CNMI. That report said CNMI businesses posted sales of only $1.3 billion in 2007, a 28-percent drop from the 2002 level of $1.8 billion due to garment factory closures since 2005, the continuous decrease in tourist arrivals, and a general downturn in the economy.