The Virgin Islands private sector recorded a net gain of 445 jobs during the final three months of 2025, reversing a net loss of 324 jobs in the preceding quarter, according to figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
From September through December, opening and expanding establishments generated 2,172 gross job gains, while closing and contracting businesses accounted for 1,727 gross job losses. Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi noted that the difference produced the quarter’s net employment increase.
The BLS release did not identify which Virgin Islands industries accounted for the net employment gain, meaning the increase cannot be attributed to tourism, construction, retail, hospitality or any other sector based on the published report alone.
The Business Employment Dynamics figures measure job creation and job losses at private-sector establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains include positions added by existing businesses and jobs created at newly opened establishments, while gross losses include employment reductions at contracting businesses and jobs eliminated through closures.
The figures are seasonally adjusted and reflect employment movement within the private sector rather than simply counting the number of people employed at a single point in time. The net change is calculated by subtracting all gross job losses from all gross job gains.
Expansions and Openings Generate 2,172 Jobs
Existing businesses that expanded their workforces accounted for 1,312 job gains during the fourth quarter, an increase of 218 from the 1,094 generated through expansions in the previous quarter.
Newly opened establishments created another 860 jobs, up by 296 from the 564 attributed to business openings during the third quarter.
Together, those gains represented 9.1 percent of private-sector employment in the Virgin Islands. Nationally, gross job gains equaled 5.9 percent of private employment during the same period.
Of the territory’s 9.1 percent gross-gain rate, expansions accounted for 5.5 percentage points and openings represented 3.6 percentage points.
Overall Losses Decline Despite More Jobs Cut Through Contractions
Businesses that reduced their workforces eliminated 1,269 jobs during the fourth quarter, 23 more than the 1,246 jobs lost through contractions in the previous three-month period.
Closures accounted for another 458 lost jobs, down sharply from the 736 attributed to establishments that closed during the third quarter. The reduction of 278 jobs lost through closures was large enough to bring total gross job losses down from 1,982 to 1,727.
Gross job losses represented 7.2 percent of private-sector employment in the Virgin Islands, compared with 5.5 percent nationally. Contracting businesses accounted for 5.3 percentage points of the territory’s loss rate, while closing establishments represented 1.9 percentage points.
The difference between the territory’s 9.1 percent gross-gain rate and 7.2 percent gross-loss rate yielded a net employment increase equal to 1.9 percent of private-sector employment. The fourth quarter therefore marked the second period of net private-sector growth among the five quarters shown. The largest increase occurred during the three months ending in June 2025, when gross gains exceeded losses by 1,284 jobs.
The largest net decline was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024, when businesses generated 1,238 gross gains but eliminated 2,534 jobs, producing a loss of 1,296.
Virgin Islands Rates Remain Above National Levels
Both job creation and job losses occurred at higher rates in the Virgin Islands than across the country during the fourth quarter.
The territory’s 9.1 percent gross-gain rate was 3.2 percentage points above the national rate of 5.9 percent. Its 7.2 percent gross-loss rate was 1.7 percentage points higher than the U.S. rate of 5.5 percent.
The wider Business Employment Dynamics data series includes gross job gains and losses by industry subsector for the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It also provides firm-level data organized by employer size.
The U.S. totals do not include Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, and state totals do not necessarily equal the national figure because each jurisdiction is adjusted for seasonal patterns independently.
Business Employment Dynamics data are produced through the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, a federal-state cooperative program. BLS compiles the figures from existing QCEW employment records.
The first-quarter 2026 Business Employment Dynamics report is scheduled for release on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
That release will incorporate annual revisions under the bureau’s standard procedures. The revisions will cover the previous four quarters of data that are not seasonally adjusted and five years of seasonally adjusted figures.
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