U.S. Territory Data

INTRODUCTION

There are 5 U.S. Territories: American Samoa (AS), Guam (GU), the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (MP), Puerto Rico (PR), and the U.S. Virgin Islands (VI). However, due to a change in disclosure policy at the U.S. Census Bureau¹, IMPLAN will no longer be generating data sets for AS, GU, or MP.  Beginning with the 2020 data, IMPLAN will only be generating data sets for PR and VI, the only two Territories for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides Census of Employment and Wages (CEW) data. The Territory data are available in the online platform only. Because the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases its GDP data for the Territories on a staggered schedule, the IMPLAN data for the Territories will also be made available on a staggered basis.

The U.S. Territory data have the same sectoring scheme as the regular U.S.-based data and have all the same capabilities with the exception of multi-regional input-output (MRIO) modeling capability due to the lack of data on the trade of goods and services between the Territories and other geographies, including between the Territories themselves.

DATA SOURCES 

Overview

The raw data sets for Territories are not nearly as comprehensive or timely compared to the U.S. data. Nor are Territories included in the U.S. NIPA accounts, so there are fewer overall control totals than there are for the U.S. states and counties.

Current BLS CEW data are available for PR and VI and represent the main source of data on wage and salary employment and income. For AS, MP, and GU, we had used the disclosed CBP data to give us employment estimates for detailed sectors.  As previously noted, we no longer use the CBP data and thus no longer produce data sets for AS, GU, or MP.

For the farm sectors, we rely on the Census of Agriculture, which covers the 5 Territories. The 5-year Census for outlying areas is published several years after the corresponding Census for the U.S.

Military employment comes from the Department of Defense.

The U.S. Census Bureau provides data on population and household counts for each of the 5 Territories.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) provides current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross Domestic Income (GDI) totals and one-year-lagged components of GDI (Employee Compensation, Gross Operating Surplus, and Taxes on Production and Imports Net of Subsidies) for all Territories. The BEA also provides current data on government spending, household spending, private fixed investment, net changes in inventory, and foreign imports and exports for each of the 5 Territories.

Ratios from the latest Territory Economic Census and from the U.S. data are used in various stages to fill in data gaps and project lagged data.

Please note that, due to data limitations, there is only one household income group in the VI data. and the tax impact report does will not display separate results for State Government vs. Local Government, nor the sub-components of Local Government. 

Foreign Exports

We first calculate U.S. foreign export rates by commodity as a percentage of total U.S. supply of that commodity (including industrial and institutional supply). We then apply those foreign export rates to the Territory’s total supply of each commodity for a first estimate of foreign exports by commodity.

We then compare the sum of the foreign exports of goods and services, respectively, to the target control totals for the total foreign exports of goods and services from the BEA and adjust the export of each commodity upward or downward as needed and as possible given the constraints that 1) exports cannot exceed supply and 2) exports must be at least as large as the difference between gross supply and gross demand, else there would be supply that is not used.

• Our total supply and demand estimates set limits on gross imports and exports. Meanwhile, the value-added data (EC, PI, OPI, and TOPI) must equal the BEA GDP control value. Therefore, since the study area data have a GDP control and supply and demand estimates (derived from estimates of industry output, the industry byproducts matrix, the industry absorption matrix, final demand, and institutional sales), the study area data entirely determine what net exports must be. Since all the other GDP controls (for final demands and institutional sales) match what's in the BEA GDP controls, the trade process yields total net trade (across all commodities) that is equal to the net trade value from BEA.
• In other words, while our sum of goods exports and services exports may not perfectly match their BEA control values, our value for net trade will match the BEA control total for net trade.

Foreign Imports

Once we know gross supply by commodity (derived from estimates of industry output, the industry byproducts matrix, and institutional sales) and foreign exports by commodity (described above), we can calculate net supply of each commodity as gross supply less foreign exports.  We can then calculate foreign imports as gross demand (derived from estimates of industry output, the industry absorption matrix, and final demand) less net supply.

FINDING TERRITORY DATA

The territory data is searchable from the Regions screen. Simply being typing the name of the territory of interest and it will populate. To learn more about the U.S. Territory data and pricing, please contact sales@implan.com.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The Census Bureau has adopted a new policy under which they no longer provide establishment counts for cases in which the establishment count is less than three, as the number of establishments is now considered sensitive. This new decision to omit from their tables all records with fewer than three establishments was a new policy that was set in place to protect the confidentiality of businesses.

This new practice makes a missing record of 1-2 establishments (an existing industry) indistinguishable from a missing record of zero establishments (a non-existent industry). The omission of records with less than three establishments, in addition to making it impossible to estimate their employment and income values, also makes it impossible for us to obtain high quality estimates for the non-disclosed records with three or more establishments, since we are not able to roll up across NAICS levels without having values for sibling sectors.

RELATED ARTICLES

2019 IMPLAN U.S. Territories Data Release Notes

Updated September 15, 2022