Puerto Rico's Economic Activity Index in February was unchanged from January.
The index from the Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico is based on four factors: gasoline consumption, total non-farm payroll, electric power generation, and cement sales.
On a per day basis comparing January to February total non-farm payroll advanced 0.8%, electric power generation gained 0.9%, and cement sales were up 15.3%. On a per day basis gas consumption fell 5%.
There was a steady decline in the index from November 2012 to August 2013 and has been erratic since then. From August 2013 to February 2014 there was a 1.2% increase.
On a year over year basis the February index value was down 2.4%.
On Friday the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that Puerto Rico's unemployment rate declined to 15% in February from 15.2% in January and 15.5% in December. However, it also showed that employment fell 0.5% in February from January.
The discrepancy in the direction of payroll from January to February between the index and the BLS data is due to the fact that the BLS payroll data is seasonally adjusted, while the index payroll data is not.
