Public-impact research shows CHamoru women, tourism most affected by pandemic in Guam
Public-impact research shows CHamoru women, tourism most affected by pandemic in Guam
Public-impact research shows CHamoru women, tourism most affected by pandemic in Guam
5/28/2021
One in five Guam residents had their lives disrupted last year by the COVID-19 pandemic
through loss of employment, inability to provide enough food for their families, and
inability to settle household expenses.
Similarly, one in four businesses had to temporarily or permanently close — with tourism
businesses being hit the hardest as far as revenue loss, layoffs, closures, reliance
on grants and loans, and diminished plans for growth.
RCPP Director John Rivera
“This is important data to have documented as the island starts to recover from the
pandemic,” said RCPP Director Dr. John Rivera. “As public and private sector leaders
move forward with plans and policies to get lives and businesses back on track, it’s
essential they can make data-driven decisions and see who is most in need of assistance.
Additionally, this data will provide a baseline to measure how well our people and
our businesses recover over the next two years.”
The reports were based off of surveys in November of 702 randomly selected residents,
a review of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance applications, and surveys of 413 randomly
selected local businesses from the 2020 listing of business licenses.
Key highlights of the residential report include:
Those most affected by the pandemic were most commonly women, CHamoru, under age 40,
having a high school education or less, having income of less than $20,000 per year,
and living with seven or more persons.
Those least affected by the pandemic were most commonly men, Filipino, over age 40,
having some college education or more, having income of $50,000 or more per year,
married, living with four or fewer persons, and government workers.
The majority of PUA applicants were women, under age 40, Filipino, having a household
income of less than $30,000, having no higher education, living in households with
three to four people, those with no children, and those with jobs in service-related
industries.
UOG Professor Roseann Jones
Key highlights of the business report include:
The private sector experienced a 66% decline in revenue in 2020 compared to 2017.
Construction industry revenues fared 45% better than all other businesses.
The number of businesses with fewer than 20 employees increased from 82% to 89% from
2017 to 2020, with 95% of tourism related businesses employing fewer than 20 people.
Nearly half of tourism businesses have furloughed most or all of their employees,
with 12% continuing to pay those employees.
More than one-third of tourism businesses have laid off employees, with 20% laying
off all of their employees.
25% of all businesses had to temporarily or permanently close in 2020. Four percent
of businesses had to permanently close.
UOG Professor Roseann Jones, who holds a doctorate in economics, led this public-impact
research project with support from Market Research & Development Inc. and student
interns. Funding support was provided by Cares Act funds through the Office of Governor
of Guam.
