Department of Labor and Career Technical Education Funding Challenges Make Way to Senate Floor

Gary Molloy, commissioner of the Department of Labor testified during Wednesday’s Committee on Education and Workforce Development saying, “As of April 2023, the unemployment rate in the US Virgin Islands was 3.1 percent, which is considered to be full employment.”

Molly testified that the unemployment rate for St. Croix was 3.7 percent and in St. Thomas-St. John was 2.7 percent, bringing the territory’s unemployment average to 1,400 for the first quarter of 2023. The total employment in the Virgin Islands came out to 39,834.

The U.S. Department of Labor has mandated the Unemployment Insurance Division to roll out a Payroll Variation employer tax methodology to bring the V.I. in compliance with federal laws and establish an experience rating to equitably distribute insured risk among the Virgin Islands Employers. The tax change will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, according to Molloy.

With the tax variation on the table and the Senate’s budget season about to begin Molloy reported that “as of April the Virgin Islands Trust Fund has approximately $17,547,982.07 available for payment of future claims. The balance on the debt owed on the Trust Fund Loan is currently $89,678,771.878. The average initial filing of claims for Fiscal Year 2022 was 458, which was a decline from Fiscal Year 2021 claims which was 1,570.”