Jamaica’s unemployment rate fell to a record low of 6.2 percent in January this year, a 0.9 percentage point lower than the figure recorded in October 2021, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) has reported.
In its Labor Force Survey for the month, STATIN said that the January figure is also 2.6 percentage points below the out-turn for the January 2021 Survey.’
STATIN director-general, Carol Coy said that the male unemployment rate decreased from 7.6 percent to 4.8 percent, while the female equivalent declined by 2.5 percentage points to 7.9 percent.
The youth unemployment rate fell by 5.1 percentage points to 17.7 percent for the review period, relative to January 2021 and Coy pointed out that the male and female out-turns decreased by approximately five percent, with the latter recording the larger decline.
“Male youth unemployment was 14.5 percent, while for the females, it was 21.8 percent,” she said.
STATIN also reported that the overall number of individuals employed in January 2022 rose by 4.8 percent or 57,800 persons to 1,257,100, compared to the corresponding period last year.
Females recorded the larger increase – 5.5 percent – compared to 4.3 percent for their male counterparts and STATIN said that the overall labor force climbed by 24,800 persons, or 1.9 percent, to 1,340,600 in January.
“There was a larger increase of females in the labor force. While the male labor force increased by 9,200 persons to 721,400, the female labor force increased by 15,600 persons to 619,200. The increase in females represented 62.9 percent of the total increase,” Coy said, adding that the number of persons classified as being outside the labor force (neither employed nor unemployed) stood at 755,600 in January, which is still a significant figure.
“Males outside the labor force declined by 8,000, while females declined by 14,400,” Coy told reporters.
CMC/
