Guam: Unemployment Rate Falls

[urbanguy]

hehe not that most of you care but i wanted to share some news about Guam.

It's been easier to look for a job on Guam, states the latest unemployment report released by the governor's office.

The report states that the number of officially unemployed Guam residents dipped, from 7,070 during the previous jobless survey more than two years ago, to 4,710 in March 2004, and the unemployment rate dropped from 11.4 percent in March 2002 to 7.7 percent in March of this year.

"This is the most significant news we have heard about the island's work force in six years," Governor Felix Camacho said in a press release issued in conjunction with release of the report.

He said the report, combined with the most recent figures of people on public and private sector payrolls, "show a healthier, positive and aggressive Guam economy on the road to recovery."

Two years ago, the number of people surveyed who said they did not want a job totaled 30,160. In the latest unemployment survey, the number of people who checked the "did not want a job" answer increased to 32,540.

"The Guam unemployment rate is just 1.7 percentage points above the comparable seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate for March 2004 of 6 percent," Guam Labor Director Jim Underwood is quoted as saying in the same press release.

The March 2004 employment survey found that the number of people employed reached 56,810.

That's an increase by 1,830 jobs from 2002. And total employment increased by 310 jobs this past quarter.