PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- The Department of Statistics (STAT) from the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic & Telecommunications, embarked upon an Economic Census Survey (ECS) approximately six weeks ago and has received information to date from over 1400 entities.
The Department of STAT is very pleased with the cooperation of the business community so far and looks forward to completing the full census in order to have a good baseline of statistics.
Of the aforementioned amount, over 390 were closed. There is a number of new businesses that have opened with the majority being in the food service sector.
The legal form of the new businesses is almost evenly matched between NV (28 per cent), BV (31 per cent) and Sole Proprietorship (24 per cent).
The new businesses are predominantly located in the Great Bay area with Simpson Bay being the second largest concentration.
The new businesses are employing 153 workers with 95 of them or 62 per cent being female.
So far 975 businesses have been interviewed that were already established before the September 2017 hurricanes and are still in business. The businesses are mostly NV with Sole Proprietorship being the second.
Wholesale and retail trade represents the biggest portion of these businesses with accommodation and food service being the second largest sector.
The majority of the businesses interviewed are in the Great Bay area followed by Cole Bay.
Currently employed in the existing businesses are 6,104 people, of which 3,267 are female. The 6,104 is down from 6,620 of the same businesses before the September 2017 hurricanes.
The ECS is an internationally used exercise to collect and report on the number of business establishments according to their size, economic activity/industry, and location.
STAT will also be able to identify and report on the number of micro, small, medium and large entities operating on St. Maarten.
Nine interviewers have been busy canvassing business operations in eight zones namely, Low Lands, Simpson Bay, Cole Bay, Little Bay, Cul de Sac, Philipsburg, Upper Princess Quarter and Lower Princess Quarter.
The ECS is being carried out over a 10-week period and started in May 2018. This survey is a main data source for: 1) Creating a comprehensive Statistical Business Register system; 2) Calculating more accurately the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); 3) Obtaining data on the number and distribution of economic establishments by industrial category, region and number of employees.
http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/29425-dept-of-stat-happy-with-results-of-economic-census-survey-results-so-far.html
