Territory’s Unemployment Remains Low, Benefit Fund High

The unemployment rate in the U.S. Virgin Islands, at 3.2 percent, is relatively low, but it rose slightly last year.

Two hundred seventy-seven residents are now collecting benefits. They have no reason to be concerned about the chaos in Washington, D.C. The Trust Fund from which those residents receive payment is funded through the unemployment tax rate placed on employers.

With the Trust Fund now at $25 million, the employer contribution rate, according to a Virgin Islands Labor Department press release, is dropping this year to 4.06 percent from 4.11 percent in 2024. Commissioner Gary Molloy said in an email to the Source that only if the trust went broke would it be forced to borrow from the federal government.

He added that employment had dropped slightly from 2023 to 2024, a 1.1 percent decline. The approximate 400 job losses were primarily in the finance and government sectors.