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Occupations in the fields of Business Administration in Puerto Rico and the United States
Abstract
This article will be dedicated to the exploration of the salaries of the Business Administration
professions. It contains comparison of hourly wages between the United States and Puerto Rico.
It also contains the employment rate for each profession analyzed. In the decade of the 40’s,
began along with the industrialization, which it’s characterized by high intensity companies; this
can be compared with the professions compared in this article. Currently, these professions
remain the same as in the 40’s, under the same conditions for a wage lower than the one given in
the United States. As a result, the professions with more growth over the years 2022 to 2024,
were in general from Business Administration, as the projection proposed for this article.
Introduction
Generally, it is no secret that the island of Puerto Rico is currently undergoing through an
economic crisis that is affecting not only the island itself, but also the territory that, to this date, it
belongs to. We are talking about the United States of America, the precursor of capitalism and
modern democracy and one of the most influential countries of the world. Puerto Rico and the
United States have been politically attached for over a hundred year and this current economic
situation is being widely pinpointed to two of the most important events in Puerto Rico's history,
the establishment of the Jones Act and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which will be
described more in debt below in the article. These two events, among others, have been the most
important aspects of today's crisis in which not only the government of Puerto Rico is absolutely
broke, but also the middle working class has been forced to sustain all the economical
responsibilities that neither the island nor the U.S. government have had the ability to complete.
The lack of immediate money, a clear political status and a sustainable economic cycle has
divided the country's main working class to divide in two sectors: the people who stay on the
island, looking for jobs, solutions to the situation and waiting for a decisive response from
United States; and the people that opt to move to the mainland, in hopes of a better financial
situation. With this backstory, United States also undergoing an economic crisis, the main
prerogative of this article comes up: Which is the actual employment rate of Puerto Rico versus
the employment rate of the United States? This paper aims to investigate the jobs related to
business administration area, the supply and demand for it, and the number of vacant jobs. It will
also observe the average hourly wage in Puerto Rico and the United States in recent years. With
all the data, we will compare the results of Puerto Rico and the United States to have a broader
view of how these particular jobs are actually in these countries. (15) The 37% is the high school
graduation rate level university in Puerto Rico, which are up to six years ending it. In Puerto
Rico, only 23.6% of the population over 25 years has a baccalaureate or higher degree. 6.6%
have a master's degree or doctorate, according to the Community Survey Census Bureau for
2014. (16) In the year of 2010 the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey offer program leading to
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Management and General Program. The retention rate on the

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Business Department program is General Program with 35%, Management with 52% and
Accounting with 61%. The latest graduation rate published by the university data for the year
2007 and show 57% on accounting, 26.7% on Management and 38.3% on General Program. (11)
Among the 19 jobs with higher demand in the United States, for the current year (2016), are
Accountant, Auditor, Human Resources Manager, Sales Manager, Financial Manager and
Marketing Manager. (12) Looking to the future, it is projected that between eight jobs that every
company needed for 2020, we see that among them are two of Business Administration: Senior
Managers and Human Resources Professionals. (1)(2) For the year 2022 the employments of
higher demand in Puerto Rico will be: Accounting, Auditors, General Managers of Operations,
Financial Managers, Analysts and investigators of marketing, Sales Managers, Administrative
Service Managers, Medical and Health System Administrators, Financial Analyst, Human
Resource Specialists, Human Resources Directors, and Credit Agents (analyst). (8) On Canada
as of December 2014, the average wage for Canadian employees was $943 a week – or just over
$49,000 a year. In the position with high earnings are senior managers of financial,
communications, and other businesses with $225,500/year and senior managers of goods
production, utilities, transportation, and construction with $205,000/year. The salaries for the job
titles with the most online job postings in Canada are Retail sales people with $24,128, Retail
managers with $50,000, Sales and account representatives with $50,000 and Administrative
officers with $45,000. (9) Actually, the unemployment in Canada dropped from 6.9 to 6.7 with
34,600 net position added. (13) Actually, in the 50 highest paying careers for college graduates
related with business, you can find Manager of: hotels, projects, operation, construction,
computer information systems, aviation; accountant, sales and marketing, business information
specialist, financial accountant, and international business.
Methodology
This study consists of a data analysis related to employment statistics, and wages by occupation,
and other items related to jobs with higher demand. It contains estimates for the number of
people employed by detailed occupation, such as the mean and median hourly wages of
employees. We used Puerto Rico and the 50 states of the United States for comparison due to
similar employment characteristics and study which occupations have higher demand in both
countries.
Back on the history
The industrialization process under the “Operation Bootstrap Program” (Manos a la Obra, in
Spanish) had two stages. The first stage was from 1947 to 1965, characterized by the attraction
of high-intensity work coming to Puerto Rico because of the low wages compared to the United
States. In 1950, for example, the average wage in Puerto Rico was 28% of the average wage of
United States. Increased investment sectors during this first stage were textiles, clothing and
leather. Mid-sixties, begins a second stage of industrial development based on attracting
businesses high capital intensity. The premises of the new strategy were that the capital-intensive

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industries provide higher salaries and stimulate the creation of secondary industries. Until then,
labor-intensive companies attracted to the island, because of the low wages, had developed very
few secondary industries. There was evidence that the industrialization in Puerto Rico was the
cause that the agricultural sector fell from 18%. At the same time, the manufacturing sector
increased its share in the economy of 16% in 1950 to 48.1% in 1980. The average wage per hour
increased from $0.42 or 28% of the US level in 1950 to $ 0.94 or 41% in 1960 and $ 2.59 or
59% in 1975 (10).
Results
First, it is important observing that the years presented in the compared graphs have two years of
difference, of the decade that has been studied. It is where the past trends are analyzed, and
where the expectations of the future are formulated. The year range in the United States graph
were established from 2014 through 2024, and the year range concerning Puerto Rico are from
2012 through 2022. From the diagrams, it can be stated that in both countries there will be a rise
of employments during these periods. When the diagrams comparison for both countries is made,
it is evident that the United States has a higher amount of employment, but this is due to its wide
territorial extension, compared with Puerto Rico. When compared to United States, Puerto Rico
fits approximately 1,083 (9,857,000km2 ¸ 9,104km2) times in it.
Figure 1

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Source: United States Department of Labor
Figure 2

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Source: Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico, 2012.Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos de
Puerto Rico, 2022.
With a careful observation of particular employments, each country’s demand is relatively the
same, with the exception of some professions, such as: General Operations Manager,
Accountants, and Auditors. In the United States, General Operations Manager has a higher
amount, and in Puerto Rico, Accountants and Auditors have a higher demand. Credit analyst are
the position with less employment compared with the other. The next tables show the Hour Mean
and Hour Median. (14) The mean salary rate is the average. That means you add up all of the
salaries and divide by the number of people. The median salary rate is the salary that is exactly in
the middle if every person is placed in rank according to salary (let's say lowest to highest
salary).
Table 1: United States Salaries Per Hour
USA 2014 Hour Wages/Median Hour Wages/Mean
Credit Analyst $32.22 $36.52
Human Resources Managers 49.41 54.88
Human Resources Specialist 27.60 30.09
Financial Analyst 37.80 44.35
Medical & Health Analyst System
Managers
44.62 49.84
Administrative Service Managers 40.28 44.35
Sales Manager 53.20 60.60

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Analyst & Investigator of Marketing 29.47 33.03
Financial Manager 55.44 62.61
General Manager of Operating 46.77 56.35
Accounting & Auditor 31.70 35.42
Source: United States Department of Labor.
Table 2: Puerto Rico Salaries Per Hour
Puerto Rico 2012 Hour/Median Hour/Mean
Credit Analyst $13.77 $16.50
Human Resources Managers 27.83 32.63
Human Resources Specialist 14.82 16.96
Financial Analyst 22.34 25.38
Medical & Health System Manager 26.09 31.92
Administrative Services Manager 22.29 25.95
Analyst & Investigator of Marketing 16.23 19.87
Sales Manager 33.30 37.91

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Financial Manager 28.50 33.58
General Manager of Operations 32.77 40.81
Accounting & Auditors 15.19 17.24
Source: Instituto de Estadísticasde Puerto Rico.
Table 3: Proyection Of Employment by State
Ocuppations: US PR
Credit Analyst 1472 707
Human Resources Managers 2666 1162
Human Resources Specialist 10078 2764
Financial Analyst 6200 1335
Medical & Health Analyst System
Managers
7786 1442
Administrative Service Managers 6216 2660
Sales Manager 11576 2577

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Analyst & Investigator of Marketing 7906 2288
Financial Manager 11870 4068
General Manager of Operating 45504 6302
Accounting & Auditor 29502 11699
Sources: figure 1 and 2
Notes: The number of US are already divided by 50.
Seeing from the point of view of a difference of two years between the data on the two tables, the
average and median hourly income in Puerto Rico is half the per hour in the United States. The
table 1 show high hour income when the lowest is the four highest on table 2. On the table 1 the
manager high income is Financial Manager with $55.44 hourly median. Human Resources
Specialist is the lowest hourly median income of the table 1. Table 2 show Sales Manager have
the best hourly median with $33.30. When I see the median hourly rate General Manager of
Operation are the best option. (7) In Puerto Rico for September 2013, the salaries are the same,
the minimum wage and the other wages are the same.
Discussion and Conclusion
Services will have greater control on jobs. In Puerto Rico, the business profession will be the
ones with the most demand over the next years. In general, in Puerto Rico and United States one-
fifth (⅕) of the careers with higher payment for sub-graduated students are from Business. From
figure 3, the nearest position between United States and Puerto Rico is Credit Analyst. The
biggest difference found is in general manager of operation. The mean pay from table 1 and table
2 in United States are better than in Puerto Rico. On Puerto Rico the employment difference
from 2012 to 2022 is not much.

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References
(1) Carreronestop. (s.f.). Obtenido de www.acinet.org:
http://acinet.org/oview2.asp?printer=&next=oview2&level=edu3&optstatus=101000000
&id=1&nodeid=4&soccode=&stfips=72&jobfam=&group=1&showall=no
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=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj40uL2-
8DLAhUBXB4KHXsxCykQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trabajo.pr.gov%2F
pdf%2FEstadisticas%2F2014%2FProyecciones%2FPR%2520Proyecciones%2520a%252
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http://www.estadisticas.gobierno.pr/iepr/Estadisticas/Basesdedatos/Economia.aspx#OES
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http://www.google.com.pr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad
=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj40uL2-
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pdf%2FEstadisticas%2F2014%2FProyecciones%2FPR%2520Proyecciones%2520a%252
0Largo%2520Pl
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region, 2015
http://careers.workopolis.com/advice/how-much-money-are-we-earning-the-average-
canadian-wages-right-now/
(9) L. Wright, Ontario helps Canada add 22,800 jobs in December, 2016
http://www.thestar.com/business/economy/2016/01/08/ontario-helps-canada-add-22800-
jobs-in-december.html
(10) M. E. Carrion, Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico, 2014
http://www.enciclopediapr.org/esp/print_version.cfm?ref=06102003
(11) J. Smith, “The 19 hottest jobs for 2016”, 2015
http://www.businessinsider.com/hottest-jobs-for-2016-2015-12
(12) C. Thompson, 8 jobs every company will be hiring for by 2020, 2016

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https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/8-jobs-every-company-will-be-hiring-for-by-
2020
(13) 50 Highest Paying Careers for College Graduates. Retrieved from College choice.
http://www.collegechoice.net/50-highest-paying-careers-college-graduates/
(14) http://www.umich.edu/~sacua/salary/mean.pdf
(15)http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/pocosterminansusestudiosuniversitarios-
2177234/
(16) http://portalwww.cayey.upr.edu/main/paginas/tazas-retencion-y-graduacion