Employment Highlights Total employment on Guam essentially held steady, in the latest quarter ending December 2008. The total job count went from 60,970 in September to 60,840 in December’s preliminary statistics, a reduction of 130 jobs, or less than one quarter of one percent. The December 2008 job count showed a reduction by 260 in the number of private sector jobs since September, of which most was accounted for by the 200 job reduction in the Services Category. Hotel jobs decreased by 80.
Over the year, the total number of jobs increased in the private sector by 410 and the overall employment total by 490 jobs, since the comparable December period of 2007. Significant changes over the year included an increase of 840 jobs in construction off-set by job reductions of 510 in Retail Trade and 270 in Hotels.
Federal employment increased 90 jobs compared to the prior quarter and 160 from the prior year’s figures. Government of Guam employment increased by 40 for the quarter but decreased 80 jobs over the comparable period of one year ago.
Average hourly earnings for private sector employees were up eighteen cents per hour and $4.81 per week, a little over one percent, since December one year ago. The increased construction share of employment, over the year, contributed to increased average hourly and average weekly earnings.
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