Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline during honestly Speaking on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. Photo: Facebook

The government of Dominica is currently constructing the island’s first international airport in partnership with the People’s Republic of China. Photo: Dominica International Airport

During his show on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, on ZBVI 780 AM, Skelton-Cline said development on other Caribbean islands has surpassed the VI. 

Using Dominica’s international airport construction as an example, he said, “The good people in Dominica are building their airport, and China is involved, and they have a 24-hour operation in the construction [and] the development of the airport in Dominica.”

Skelton-Cline added that soon, a lot of the regional people who took up residence in the Virgin Islands will go back home. 

“Because home is going to prove more economically efficient for them than the reasons why they moved here in the first place…because we’re running wild and we have fallen behind. We are falling behind.”

It should be noted, however, that the Government of the Virgin Islands is committed to expanding the airport runway and developing the terminal at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.

More than 70% of the workforce are expats

The latest statistics available from the Central Statistics Office are from 2023 and show that expats make up 73.1% of the workforce in the VI. 

It is also estimated that about 21 nationalities were working in the VI, with most from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Guyana, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.

Other nationalities with a sizable workforce come from Nigeria, other African, Central American and European Countries, as well as the Bahamas, Israel, Venezuela and the Middle East.