The 2022 Economic Census of American Samoa which was released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau shows the territory had 593 business establishments that year employing 8,999 people. The combined annual payroll was $163.9 million.
In the last economic census conducted in 2017, there were 511 business establishments employing 7,767 employees with an annual payroll of $143.9 million.
The economic census provides comprehensive data on sales and other measures of employer business output for nearly every sector of the economy and is conducted every five years. Businesses that have one or more paid employee are mandated to answer the census questionnaire.
Two officials from the US Census Bureau Bobby Nusz, Assistant Survey Director staff chief and Mike Sprung, Assistant Survey Director presented the census data at a press conference this morning.
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The sector with the most employees is Manufacturing which had 2,463 employees, followed by Retail Trade which employed 1,670 workers, Health Care and Social Assistance employed 1,132, Accommodation and Food Services employed 922, and Construction had 656 employees.
Manufacturing recorded sales, value of shipments or revenue for the year at $403.4 million, the next highest was Retail Trade which reported $393.5 million in sales, value of shipment and revenues, Wholesale Trade came in at $203 million, followed by Construction at $96.9 million and Health Care and Social Assistance recorded $86.7 million in sales, value of shipments and revenue.
Compared to the 2017 economic census, there were increases in business establishment of 16%, sales by 33.3%, payroll by 14% and employees by 2.6%.
According to the data, the Eastern District had 366 business establishments while the Western District had 226.
The US Census Bureau officials gave a presentation for the Governor this morning and will also be doing the same for the Chamber of Commerce.
To access the full Economic Census of American Samoa 2022, visit https://data.census.gov and follow these steps:
- Enter IA22 in the Search field
- Click on Filters
- Under Geography select state then select American Samoa
- Close the filter to view the full census.
