Puerto Rico, an Island in Distress

“After decades of economic progress, Puerto Rico is struggling, and the mainland has both missed this horrific economic slide and contributed to it through benign neglect.

Poverty on the island is rampant. The per capita income is just about half that of the poorest state in the United States. Nearly one-third of the population was unemployed in 2000. And a good quarter of all employment is in government jobs. If the goal is more than survival, the bloated public payroll will need to be significantly pared back.

The bleak picture is set out in a long-overdue, exhaustive study ”” “The Economy of Puerto Rico: Restoring Growth” ”” from the Center for the New Economy, a nonpartisan Puerto Rican research group, and the Brookings Institution.”

Comments are closed.