Last Updated on January 20, 2020, 1:42 PM AST by Anthony Morris
With reference to Labour Force Survey conducted in October 2019, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reported that the Caribbean island’s unemployment rate has fallen to a record low of 7.2%.
Director General of STATIN, Carol Coy, said that this is a 1.5% points lower than the 8.7% out-turn for the same period in 2018. It is also 0.6% below the 7.8% recorded in the survey conducted in April 2019.
Further, Coy said that the total number of persons in jobs as at October 2019 hiked by 2.4%, compared to the similar period in 2018.
Coy expressed these thorough when she was addressing media during STATIN’s quarterly press briefing at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on January 17.
“A breakdown of the data shows that total number of unemployed persons as in October 2019 stood at 96,700, representing a 16.4% decline over the last year,” said Director General.
Coy noted that female unemployment dropped by 16,000 persons to 53,400, while total number of unemployed males decreased by 3,000 persons to 43,300, this year.
“The out turn for females represented a 2.6 percentage points decline to 8.6%, while the rate for the males declined from 6.4% to 6%,” she said.
Additionally, Coy said the unemployment rate for youth aged between 14 to 24 dropped from 24.9% in October 2018 to 21.1% last year.
She said that the rate of unemployment for male youth decreased by 3.6 percentage points to 18.2% in October last year, while the unemployment rate for female youth declined by 3.9 percentage points to 24.7%,” she added.
Coy said the number of persons in jobs as in October increased by 29,200 persons (2.4%) to 1,248,400, relative to the similar period in 2018. The overall labour force increased by 10,200 individuals to 1,345,100.
She further informed that increased female employment, which increased by 18,600 individuals to 565,600, was nearly double that of males, which went up 10,600 to 682,800.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
