Garment sector leads NMI economy

The CNMI apparel industry leads the Northern Marianas’ manufacturing industry by infusing $639 million into the economy and employing more than 16,000 workers that translate to millions of taxes, according to the first Census Bureau report on the island areas from the 2002 Economic Census.

The 2002 Economic Census of Island Areas—Northern Marianas Islands, which was released yesterday, disclosed that manufacturing industries recorded the most sales amounting to $666 million and employed the most workers—16,941—in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The report revealed that the apparel industry led the manufacturing sector with sales of $639 million and employed nearly 16,351 workers in 42 different establishments.

The sector’s total sales jumped from $147 million to $639 million in the last five years and an addition of 2,651 workers. There was also an addition of three more establishments since 1997, the report added.

The economic census survey covered 1,276 businesses in the Northern Mariana Islands, which recorded $1.8 billion in sales altogether and employed nearly 33,000 people. In all, these establishments disbursed an annual payroll of $382 million.

For the last five years, the CNMI saw an increase of 44 additional businesses in the CNMI from 1,232 in 1997 to 1,276 in 2002.

Behind the manufacturing industry, the CNMI’s next largest sector in sales or receipts was retail trade, which recorded $312 million.

Accommodations and food services, meanwhile, were in third spot, posting $197 million in sales or receipts; followed by wholesale trade, which registered $123 million.

The accommodation businesses, i.e., hotels and restaurants, employed 2,789 people and disbursed an annual payroll of $35 million.

In 1997, the last economic census conducted, production of apparel and other textiles also led the manufacturing industry, with 39 establishments and more than 12,000 employees. The Northern Mariana Islands saw a boom in manufacturing between 1992 and 1997, with the number of paid manufacturing employees doubling from 6,300 to 13,700, and the annual manufacturing payroll tripling from $49 million to $147 million. Manufacturing shipments increased from $264 million to more than $762 million.

However, the U.S. Census Bureau said that data collected in the 1997 census and the ones collected for the 2002 Economic Census of Island Areas cannot be compared as the new report contains the first information for U.S. island areas based on the North American Industry Classification System. This system provides much more data about particular components of the economy such as the information, finance and insurance, real estate and health-care industries.

Because previous censuses were based on the Standard Industrial Classification System codes, information collected for 2002 for most industries is not directly comparable, the bureau said.

The 2002 Economic Census of Island Areas is also the first time that a mail survey was used to canvass businesses in the Northern Mariana Islands. Previously, information was collected using personal visits.

In the CNMI, census activities were carried out under the direction of Diego Sasamoto, then director of the Central Statistics Division of the Department of Commerce, under a special arrangement with the Census Bureau.

Governments and businesses use data from economic censuses, conducted every five years, as benchmarks for economic planning. This report is being used by the Department of the Interior to assess economic policy on the Commonwealth while the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses data to help in the assessment of damages due to natural disasters.

As in all surveys, economic census data are subject to nonsampling error, which includes errors of response, processing, nonreporting and coverage.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts a population and housing census every 10 years, an economic census every five years and more than 100 demographic and economic surveys every year, all of them evolving from the first census in 1790.