Press Release

The results of the fifth edition of the Survey on the Adoption of Broadband Technology in Companies in Puerto Rico are available

76% of businesses make sales or receive payments through online transactions.

76% of businesses make sales or receive payments through online transactions, the main sector in this regard being wholesalers and warehousing businesses, of which 86% carry out transactions through these means. This is based on data published in the fifth edition of the Puerto Rico Business Broadband Technology Adoption Survey (2019); this survey was conducted by the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) in collaboration with the non-profit organization Connect Puerto Rico. This product includes statistics related to the availability, access and use of information technologies and broadband Internet in companies in Puerto Rico. The data were obtained through telephone surveys conducted with nearly 800 local companies.

“Having data, such as those provided by this type of survey, helps to know the availability and limitations of access to this technology in the economic sector. In the same way, it allows us to know the indicators on electronic commerce in Puerto Rico,” said Francisco Pesante, Assistant for Statistical Projects at the Institute.

From the 2019 edition of the Survey on the Adoption of Broadband Technology in Companies in Puerto Rico, the following findings are highlighted:

• 93% of the companies surveyed reported using the Internet for their operations.
• 99% of establishments dedicated to the financial and professional services sector reported using the Internet for their operations.
• 87% of establishments reported using broadband Internet to conduct their businesses.
• 77% of the establishments surveyed reported that their bandwidth is adequate to meet their needs.
• 70% of retail establishments reported using social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.
• The main activities of commercial establishments, in which the use of the Internet is involved, are:
  • Communicate with your customers (76%)
  • Billing and collection (73%)
  • Purchases of goods and services (71%)

• 47% of the establishments surveyed are owned by a woman or a woman is one of the owners, if there are co-owners.

The acting executive director of the Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier said that “At the Institute of Statistics, we are pleased to collaborate in the collection of data that serve as indicators for economic sectors. According to our vision, we work to guarantee Puerto Rico that it has complete, reliable statistics, and quick and universal access.”

Some of the findings of the report are summarized in the visualization accessible through the following link: https://tabsoft.co/32ZXdM3.

For more information about this survey, as well as previous surveys, interested individuals can access: https://cutt.ly/ieue8ZY. To learn about the data sets you can visit: https://cutt.ly/Neue4hy.

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook accounts (@statistics.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico).

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Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28

787-603-3200

Lourdes Burgos, R-27

787-562-2932

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72,000 net passengers returned on domestic flights in the first 4 months of the year

The data confirms the return of people after the passage of Hurricane Maria

San Juan, PR, July 13, 2017 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) today released updated data on the movement of air passengers on domestic flights up to the month of April 2018, as reported by airlines to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Here's a summary of the most striking results:

• In the last 4 months of last year (September to December 2017), during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, about -200,000 net passengers departed on domestic flights.

• In contrast, in the first 4 months of the year (January to April 2018), about 72,000 people arrived in Puerto Rico in net terms on domestic flights.

• This represents a notable change from previous years. For example, for the same period last year (January to April 2017), instead of experiencing a net passenger arrival, almost -40,000 net air passengers had departed.

• In the first 10 months of fiscal year 2017-18, there was a net movement of air passengers on domestic flights of almost -155 thousand air passengers. In the last 3 calendar years (2014, 2015 and 2016), the net movement of air passengers on domestic flights was an average departure of -89,000 passengers per year.

“We have been trying to identify a return pattern after Hurricane Maria for some time. Finally, these data confirm that trend. Although the figure does not indicate that a similar number of people have returned among those who left after the Hurricane, the data suggests that this return process has begun. We will have to see how the movement of passengers behaves during this summer to get a more complete picture. But, for now, these data suggest that for fiscal year 2017-18 there will be a net migration of approximately -150 to -170 thousand people. If so, this will represent an increase in the migratory wave that Puerto Rico had been experiencing before the Hurricane, which was around -90,000 people a year before the passage of Hurricane Maria. But, at the same time, it will represent a substantially lower increase than the -250,000 people that had been projected in the last Fiscal Plan,” said Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago, executive director of the Institute.

Data on the net movement of air passengers can be downloaded from: https://indicadores.pr/dataset/vuelos-pasajeros-aereos-y-carga-puerto-rico.

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 IEPR 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 Puerto Rico SDC, the IEPR manages the SDC portal, where you can find 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.

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

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PRESS RELEASE

DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

INSTITUTE WILL CONTINUE TO INVEST IN PLANNING BOARD STATISTICS

The decision makes it easier for the Planning Board to comply with the methodological changes

required for Puerto Rico's economy to be included in that of the United States

San Juan, PR, July 6, 2018 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) announced today that its Board of Directors recently approved continuing to financially support the work of the Roadmap for the Modernization of Puerto Rico's Economic Accounts, work plan agreed between the Planning Board (JP) and the Institute for necessary improvements to Puerto Rico's macroeconomic accounting methodologies.

East Roadmap includes the need to invest in the information systems used by JP to prepare Puerto Rico's economic accounting statistics. In fact, the Institute has been investing in these systems for more than a year. Specifically, in 2016 it was entrusted to the company Wovenware the migration of information systems from a technology based on Oracle products to one based on Microsoft SQL. This is because Oracle discontinued technological support for Softwares that JP uses, which caused processing problems in that agency.

The recent decision, for example, extends this agreement to the next fiscal year, during which it is expected that Wovenware complete final phases 3 and 4 for which the Institute will be investing more than $300,000. The project, which began in 2016 and is expected to end in 2019, will allow the database to be updated automatically, duplicate data to be eliminated and processes to be improved as well as the accessibility of JP statistics.

“As part of our mission to objectively support public administration, the Institute's Board of Directors has done its part to continue the necessary improvements in government, at times of great uncertainty. It is also a project supported by the employees of the JP and the President of the JP that will allow this agency to evolve and for which we are investing more than 10% of the Institute's budget,” said the executive director of the Institute, Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago.

“It is worth noting that this project implements some of the methodological changes adopted by the Institute's Board of Directors in the Resolution No. 2014-02, so that Puerto Rico's national accounts are more reliable, comparable and quickly and universally accessible. At the same time, we are complying with the federal government's requirements for Puerto Rico's economy to be included in the statistics of the United States economy,” added Dr. Marazzi-Santiago.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), entitled Puerto Rico: Limited Federal Data Hinder Analysis of Economic Condition and Dol's 2016 Overtime Rule, found that the lack of federal data on Puerto Rico's economy had made it difficult to analyze the impact of a labor standard proposed by former President of the United States, Barack Obama, on overtime pay for certain types of jobs.

“For statistics on the Puerto Rico economy to be included in those of the United States economy, the Government of Puerto Rico must do its part as well. Since 2011, the federal Government has written down the methodological changes that need to be made to the Planning Board. It is important that this agenda be continued. The Institute's Board of Directors has done its part, because it has the expertise, professionalism, seriousness and independence of judgment that are necessary to understand that this is an agenda that is too important to be derailed,” said Dr. Marazzi-Santiago.

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 https://estadisticas.pr.gov, about 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through https://data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: https://www.indicadores.pr.

In addition, as the leading entity of the State Data Center (SDC) of 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: https://estadisticas.pr.gov. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook accounts (https://www.facebook.com/estadisticas.pr), Twitter (https://twitter.com/estadisticaspr) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/instituto-de-estadisticas-de-puerto-rico).

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

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