January 17, 2022
The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) reported that the unemployment rate for October 2021 was 7.1 per cent. This is 3.7 percentage points lower than the 10.8 per cent out-turn for the corresponding period in October 2020.
Data from the survey show that the increase in employment (76,600) was more than twice the increase in the labour force (31,400). Also, there were fewer persons outside the labour force (29,000). Females accounted for 57.0 per cent (43,700) of the increase in employment. The largest share of the increase in employment for females was in the occupation group ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’ and the industry group ‘Real Estate and Other Business Services’.
There was a larger increase in the female labour force, the male labour force increased by 10,700 (1.5%) persons to 715,300, while the female labour force increased by 20,700 persons (3.5%) to 613,800. Overall, there were 1,329,100 persons in the Labour Force, an increase of 31,400 (2.4%) compared to 1,297,700 in October 2020.
Additionally, there was a larger increase in female employment, the number of employed males increased by 32,900 (5.1%) to 676,200. The number of employed females was 558,600, an increase of 43,700 (8.5%). Notwithstanding, unemployment declined for both males and females. The number of unemployed persons in October 2021 was 94,300, which is 45,200 fewer persons (32.4%) compared to October 2020. The number of unemployed males declined by 22,200, to 39,100 (36.2%), and the number of unemployed females by 23,000 persons (29.4%) to 55,200. However, the unemployment rate declined more for females than males; The male unemployment rate decreased from 8.7 per cent to 5.5 per cent. The rate for females was 9.0 per cent in October 2021, a decline of 4.2 percentage points.
The report indicated that the unemployment rate for youth, aged 14 to 24, was 18.9 per cent in October 2021, a decline of 9.3 percentage points compared to October 2020. The unemployment rate for male youth declined by 7.2 percentage points to 16.6 per cent, while the rate for female youth declined by 12.3 percentage points to 21.6 per cent.
The largest increase in the number of employed females is in the occupation group ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’. Notably, the occupation group ‘Professionals, Senior Officials and Technicians’ had the largest increase in employment of 25,800 persons (10.1%). Employment also increased in the groups ‘Elementary Occupations’ and ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’, by 14,500 and 14,400 respectively. Males accounted for the larger share of the increase in the group ‘Elementary Occupations’ (10,000), while females accounted for the larger share of the increase in the group ‘Professionals, Senior Officials and Technicians’ (13,500).
Data on the employment by Industry group shows that the largest increase, 24,500 persons (23.1%), was in ‘Real Estate and Other Business Services’, which had a total employment of 130,500 persons in October 2021. This was followed by ‘Arts, Entertainment, Recreation and Other Services’ which increased by 14,800 persons to 111,500. For employed males, the largest increase was in ‘Construction’ (12,000 or 12.3%), and for females, ‘Real Estate and Other Business Services’ (14,100 or 25.7%).
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