PRESS RELEASE

Statistics Institute releases new version of the Occupied Positions Report

A new programming improves the visualization of the statistics of positions held in the government

A new programming carried out by the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics will allow a better visualization of the Occupied Positions (PO) Report in the Government and the ability to compare current information with previous months, among other advantages. For the redesign of this report, free of charge and open source software was used R, so now it is done completely through this program, eliminating manual processes that were previously carried out.

“This new program is an advanced one because it optimizes the efficiency and effectiveness of statistical processes on this topic, improves our ability to monitor government positions with updated information, and allows comparisons to be made with previous years.”, said Dr. Orville M. Disdier, executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.

The new design, as indicated by Ana Gabriela Jara Castro, manager of statistical projects at the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, includes a monthly report tabulated by agency and type of position, in addition to the time series, with the following information:

1. Number of POs at the end of the reference month, broken down by type of position (career, trust, temporary, irregular, among others) and by type of agency.
2. Monthly change in the number of POs by type of position and by type of entity.
3. Total PO for each government entity.

Jara Castro explained that, within this new format, a table (Table 4) was included that represents entities that have not reported their positions to the Office of the Comptroller for more than six months.

“The inclusion of this new table will allow the accountability process, for positions in government entities, to be a more transparent one, and more accessible to the population. The main objective of this report is to summarize the information of all the agencies represented in the Office of the Comptroller on its website,” said Ana G. Jara Castro, who was primarily responsible for the redesign of the report.

According to the website of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, the statistics presented in the Report on Statistics of Occupied Government Positions, come from the Register of Occupied Positions and Related Information, created under Act No. 103-2006, known as the Puerto Rico Government Tax Reform Act of 2006. This law states that every governmental entity has a duty to certify this information to the Comptroller's Office on a monthly basis. In those cases where the entity has not fulfilled its duty to certify its figures in a timely manner, the Statistics Institute performs a simple statistical attribution of the missing data to complete the statistics. All figures are under constant review and may change in future reports. The January 2021 edition is the most recent edition of this report and reflects that the number of total POs in government has fallen from 275,448 in January 2008 to 150,502 in January 2021. In the same way, “De Carrera” POs have fallen from 218,540 in January 2008 to 109,975 in January 2021. The report can be accessed through the following link: Statistics of Occupied Positions in the Government.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity tasked with coordinating the government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and accessible quickly and universally.

For more information you can visit the website: https://estadisticas.pr.gov/. In addition, you can follow the Institute on social networks, through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

###

Contact:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28

787-603-3200

‍

PRESS RELEASE

DR. MARIO MARAZZI‐SANTIAGO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Statistics Institute announces enrollment period for the first semester of its training courses in data production and analysis

San Juan, PR, October 12, 2018 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) announced the beginning of the enrollment period for the first semester of its Academies and Workshops for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, whose purpose is to provide the theoretical basis and best practices on issues related to statistics.

For this first semester, several academies and workshops of interest will be offered, including a course online which is included in the curriculum under Virtual Academy. It is called “Ckan as a data tool” and will take place from October 29 to November 5 for a total of 15 hours. For this purpose, the learning platform will be used Moodle and a link will be provided to access it via the Internet.

In addition, the following workshop will be offered “RStudio: Statistical Tool” at the Pre-Basic, Basic, Basic-Intermediate and Intermediate levels. All have a duration of 3 hours. While this time there will be a wide range of Webinars which includes five 1-hour alternatives to choose from. These are:”Tableau Public: Tool for dynamic data visualization”, “Interactive Tools of the U.S. Census Bureau/Update on work towards the 2020 Census”, “Introduction to Python” at Pre-Basic and Basic levels, as well as “QGIS for visualizing municipal data” at Basic Level.

The Institute's Academies and Workshops will be held starting next October 18 and will run until December 14, 2018. Pre-enrollment must be done through the Institute's Online Enrollment System (SML), which can be accessed through the following Internet address: https://estadisticas.pr.gov/academia. The SML requires the applicant to complete a pre-enrollment form and accept the pre-enrollment rules and terms. After the Institute processes the application, the applicant will be notified, by email, if he was officially accepted and enrolled, if he was placed on the waiting list or, on the contrary, the request was denied.

“We urge all interested parties to pre-register on time to ensure their participation as spaces are limited. It is important to remember that, in order to benefit from our Academies and Workshops, it is necessary to register through our website,” said Dr. Orville M. Disdier Flores, Director of the Institute's Academies and Workshops Program.

If you would like to contact Dr. Disdier Flores directly, you can do so at (787) 993-3342 or via email: orville.disdier@estadisticas.pr.

The Institute's Academies and Workshops are primarily aimed at government professionals working in statistical functions, but are also available to individuals and professionals from non-profit institutions and the private sector. Only in the latter case would a small tuition charge apply. For government employees, courses are free of charge, and employees of non-profit organizations can request a fee waiver.

The curricular design of these courses, which are offered every semester, takes into consideration the fact that statistical analysis is not an isolated process since it is strongly linked to other activities, such as sample design and data entry management. It is for this reason that the courses cover everything from basic topics to more specialized or advanced topics, to address the challenges in data management that public and private organizations face on a daily basis.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for coordinating the Government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through www.estadisticas.pr.gov, over 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr.

In addition, as the leading entity of the SDC in Puerto Rico, the Institute manages the SDC portal, which contains the main statistical reports and publications of the U.S. Census Bureau on Puerto Rico, specifically those that are most in demand, such as annual population estimates; the Puerto Rico Community Survey (Puerto Rico Community Survey) and official statistics on Puerto Rico's 10-year population and housing censuses, among others. The Puerto Rico SDC portal can be accessed through: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/.

For more information you can visit our website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook (estadisticas.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

##

Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes/(787) 688-0401

‍

PRESS RELEASE

DR. ORVILLE M. DISDIER FLORES

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Statistics Institute publishes the Creative Industries report 2017

It reveals that the total number of establishments dedicated to Creative Industries was 2,054, the majority (41.7%) belonging to the Arts sector.

San Juan, PR, December 17, 2018 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) today released its report of Creative Industries in Puerto Rico 2017, as part of public policy aimed at supporting the development of this sector, in accordance with Law No. 173 of October 13, 2014, also known as the Act to Promote Creative Industries. This law summarizes creative industries into the following groups:

• Design (graphic, industrial, fashion and interiors)
• Arts (music, visual and performing arts and publications)
• Media (application development, video games, online media, digital content and multimedia)
• Creative Services (architecture and creative education)

Here are some of the publication's key findings:

1. The total number of establishments dedicated to Creative Industries totaled 2,054. With 41.7% of the establishments, the Arts sector had the largest number of Creative Industries. Within this sector, the specific industries of Computer Systems Design were the one with the highest number with 195 establishments (10.2%).
2. The largest number of establishments (59.3%) was characterized by being in the category of 1 to 4 employees.
3. In terms of the number of employees per Creative Industry, the Media sector accounted for 46% (8,454) of the people employed in Creative Industries.
4. The largest number of employees is in the Computer Systems Design industry with 2,154 employees.
5. The Creative Industries were numerically dominated by the male population. The number of male population totaled 34,542 (63%) people, while the employed female population was estimated at 20,323 (37%) people.
6. The average annual wage for all industries was $28,680, the median was $23,650 and the minimum was $6,492.
7. The highest average annual wage was for the Software Publishing-related industry at $118,200.
8. The highest average annual salary, by occupation, was System Software Developers with $62.120.

Francisco Pesante González, author of the report, stated that “despite the fact that Puerto Rico has been in recession for more than 10 years, and has had to face the effects of hurricanes Irma and María, the 2017 indicators reveal consistent growth in exports from creative industries.”

For his part, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, Acting Executive Director, said: “With this third report prepared and published by the Institute of Statistics, we reiterate our commitment to join forces with the Institute of Culture and the Trade and Export Company, aimed at continuing the promotion and support of Creative Industries in Puerto Rico.”

To access the full report you can visit: Creative industries.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for coordinating the Government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through www.estadisticas.pr.gov, over 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr.

‍

##

Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes/(787) 688-0401

‍