Puerto Rico’s economic activity index increased 0.5% in May from April and 3.3% from May 2021. , according to data released from the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico Thursday.
Over the last six months the index
May was the 15th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase. The last month where this did not occur was February 2021, which looked back on the non-COVID-19 impacted February 2020.
“Before the pandemic, the [Puerto Rico] economy was just showing signs of emerging from a decade-and-a-half-long economic slump, during which both the population and employment had fallen by about 16%," New York Fed President John Williams said Friday.
When the pandemic hit, employment plunged another 14%, "a far steeper decline than after Hurricane Maria in 2017,” Williams said in a speech at the Mayagüez campus of University of Puerto Rico. “The subsequent turnaround has been astounding. Today, total employment is up 5% from pre-pandemic levels and is at a nine-year high, and the unemployment rate is at a record low."
Williams noted the recovery has been broad-based, "but we’ve seen particular strength in certain industries like professional business services, transportation, and warehousing, and manufacturing.” Tourism also saw big gains, with hotel occupancy above 75%, he said.
The index is created based on four economic measures: non-farm payroll employment, electric energy generation, cement sales, and gasoline consumption. All except cement sales were up on both a year-over-year and month-to-month basis. Cement sales were down in May 4.7% from April and 9.2% from a year earlier.
The economic activity index statistics provides a context for the
