Two officials from the U.S. Census Bureau are on Guam and met with local Department of Labor to finalize plans for the 2022 Economic Census Plan. The agency is asking local businesses cooperation to as they survey the island’s economy.

How well is Guam's economy? As the official measurement of businesses, the economic census provides a comprehensive measure of the activity by industry and election district for the island. By law, it is required for businesses to respond and complete the census.

This is the same law that provides for confidentiality of all responses and the data will be used for statistical purposes only.

Robert Nusz with the economic census said, "This is a survey that we do every five years, for years that end in two and seven, it covers every business here on Guam. In this survey asks basic business statistics such as sales, payroll, employment inventories, capital expenses and a lot of specific industry data."

"For the U.S. territories, this economic census is the only data collection that we do. The Bureau of Economic Analysis really relies on these statistics for the Gross Domestic Product," he added.

According to bureau officials, taking this survey will help businesses and policy makers see industry trends, identify areas of strength in the economy and businesses to make decisions based on data.

Guam businesses will receive census forms by mail this month and will primarily be an online data collection.

Michael Sprung, Economic Census Assistant Survey Director, told KUAM News, "The electronic reporting tool we created for the 2022 Census, devoting alot of resources to making it easier, faster and easier than paper. It reducing the processing time on our end so we can get the statistics out sooner."

Once the census bureau collects the data and  releases the report in June 2024, officials should then have a better understanding of the island’s economy and what to do moving forward. Nusz added, "The 2017 numbers showed a thriving economy here so we’ll see how that pans out. It’s just hard to say with the pandemic since we don’t have any frequent measures."

For secure online reporting, instructions and a unique company code will be provided to respondents in the mail.  Small businesses on Guam will have a paper option available.

If businesses have questions when they receive the economic census letter requesting, officials say don't worry -  a local phone number will be provided.