2010 VI Holidays, all 23 of them

I want to work for the goverment:$)

Not to bad. Does anyone know how much paid time off do the local government employees get?

Additional benefits for government employees include:

•20-25 paid holidays;

•13 days of sick leave earned each year, with an unlimited carryover amount;

•4 hours, 6 hours or 8 hours of earned annual leave each pay-period (depending on years of service) with 480 hours eligible to be carried from one year to the next;

•Life, supplemental life, medical and dental insurance; and

•a retirement system into which the employee becomes vested after 10 years of service. Retirement is possible at age 50 or after 30 years of service regardless of age.

http://www.dopusvi.org/Careers.aspx

Unbelievable!!

I don't Know with the exception of 4 Holiday's extra, the benefits are no different than any other civil service jobs in the states. If you look at the pay for the Police compared to the states it's more than a little low.

Brings to mind a discussion I had with a St. Thomas business owner about the difficulty of hiring folks. He has been on island for 3+ decades and he explained to me that half the Island works for the Government and the other half is pissed off because they don't have a government job 😉 Can't blame the locals for wanting to snag a government job with the benefits listed in this thread. Pretty decent pay for having to only work 9 months out of the year.

the holidays have been on the books for years and years and years...it is nothing unusual.
the stateside holidays are celebrated as well as the crucian, puerto rican, i think a danish and british one thrown in, and other caribbean holidays....plus we have hurricane supplication day AND hurricane thanksgiving day...

Off Island,
Current USVI Govt Jobs 11752
Federal Gov Jobs 946
Average Annual Gross Pay $36,510.

That's only 10%

the benefits are not particularly special, any government job in DC (and in most states) come with similar benefits and, often, more paid time off (especially after a time period). I know lots of people have shitty jobs with no benefits, but it would be just wrong for the government of any level to provide less benefits than is expected of a *decent* enterprise.

Actually 12000 jobs is a lot more than 10% if you consider population of working age (and out of that take only those who are able and willing to work). I would estimate 12000 jobs to be about 30% of total workforce based on demographics of these islands (40% of population are outside the working ages, that leaves about 60K people of which some are stay at home or otherwise not working)

so there are about 300 million people in the US and 1.8 million work for the Federal Govt.

What's that? about less than 2%

10+ % in the VI. What's wrong with that picture?

Let's see what the new census on the population say this year, and how many down islanders are working on the USVI islands?

Bombi,
You have heard the saying that stats can be skewed, You forgot to include, State workers, County workers, municipal workers.

Here are some numbers for you.
Labor force and Employment
Non-Agricultural wage and Salary Jobs 46,061
Private sector Jobs 33,362
USVI Government Jobs 11,752
Federal Government Jobs 946
unemployment rate 4.9%
Annual Gross Pay 36,510

That's 91,175 Jobs vs 120,000 Population so Fed Jobs would be less than 1% no matter how you slice it.(Less than the States)

Lizard it was just a gross comparison. There is no question that the size of the VI govt is excessive.

I lived on the coast of Maine in a town of about 50,000 residents and a total of 70 employees ran the services just fine. Yes there is State gov't employees as well but it seems the number of govt employees in the VI, based on the gross population is out of wack. Just an observation. I have no fantasy of changing anything.

I totally realize that some duplication of services is necessary due to the logistics of 4 islands, however the number of employees seems excessive when you consider the amount and quality of services provided.

All I want is the basics, like lines on the roads, potholes filled maybe a few street lights, perhaps a few road signs, nothing major.

As a government employee, I find that it is really hard to find someone to cover the shift so I can avail myself of those holidays. At one place they are told they have to work the holiday or they won't get paid. There is not enough money for basic supplies so we can do our jobs. The payroll people screw it up all the time so you might get half your pay or none at all. It ain't all that great, folks!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I work for the US Govt about 3 months out of every year.

In a town of 50 thousand up in Maine most services are provided by someone else. Social security by feds, roads - mostly by state, elecricity - by private utulity (probably overseen by state) and so on and so forth. Here the island is a city, a state and a country all in one. So comparison with a tiny town just does not hold. That said, part of the reason government employment is so relatively high is that, much like in many poorer locations of the world, that is the only way to provide reasonable employment to people (for the lack of appropriate private enterprise that can pick up a slack). It beats having 30% of working age population unemployed.

yeah, and my comparison was faulty. I didn't consider education at all. In the VI all teachers and admistrators are VI employees.

I mean no ill will towards govt employees. I couldn't handle it.

Just wanted to check, will Monday July 6th and Monday December 27th be holidays where the local gov't employees don't have to go to work?

Will the April 30th and May 1st holidays apply to St Croix local gov't employees as well?

The Governor usually grants leave for the big festival events

Federal Employees on Island do not get those benis.

The govt is on administrative leave on Nov. 2 for Election Day.