Business Employment Dynamics in the U.S. Virgin Islands — Third Quarter 2025

From June 2025 to September 2025, gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments in the U.S. Virgin Islands were 1,982, while gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments were 1,658, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment loss of 324 jobs in the private sector during the third quarter of 2025. (See table 1.) During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 1,284. (See chart 1.)

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all private businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private-sector establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See the Business Employment Dynamics Technical Note.)

In the third quarter of 2025, gross job losses represented 8.4 percent of private-sector employment in the U.S. Virgin Islands; in the United States, gross job losses accounted for 5.7 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 2.) Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, contracting establishments lost 1,246 jobs in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 217 jobs from the prior quarter. Closing establishments lost 736 jobs, a decrease of 465 jobs from the previous quarter.

In the third quarter of 2025, gross job gains represented 7.1 percent of private-sector employment in the U.S. Virgin Islands; in the United States, gross job gains accounted for 5.6 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 3.) Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment due to expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 1,094 in the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of 661 jobs compared to the previous quarter. Opening establishments accounted for 564 jobs gained in the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of 1,195 jobs from the previous quarter.

The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses by industry subsector, for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as gross job gains and gross job losses at the firm level by employer size class. BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. Additional information is available online at the Business Employment Dynamics homepage and the Business Employment Dynamics Summary.

The Business Employment Dynamics for Fourth Quarter 2025 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data are a product of a federal-state cooperative program known as Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The BED data are compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing QCEW records.

More information on formal definitions of the data used in this release, along with coverage, concepts, and methodology, can be found in the Business Employment Dynamics Technical Note.

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