Carol Coy, Director-General of STATIN
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Carol Coy, Director-General of STATIN and Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke
Jamaica's unemployment rate has hit a new record low.
According to the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) in April, the unemployment rate was six per cent.
That was three percentage points lower than the unemployment rate recorded in April 2021.
Unemployment among women was 7.6 per cent - a 3.3 per cent decline from last year.
Carol Coy, Director-General of STATIN, said male unemployment fell by 2.8 per cent, to 4.7 per cent.
"The number of males outside the labour force declined 8,900 while the number of females declined by 13,700. The overall number of persons in the labour force in 2022 was 1,350,300 and this was an increase of 1.9 per cent or 24,900 persons," she revealed at a media briefing on Friday.
The number of females in the labour force has increased by 14,900, while the male labour force increased by 10,000.
The unemployment rate for youth, aged 14 to 24, was 15.5 per cent. For male youth, the figure stood at 15.1 per cent, while for female youth it was 15.9 per cent, down from 28 per cent last year.
Reacting to the STATIN data, Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke noted that there has been an increase in employment in various sectors, such as construction, business process outsourcing and food processing.
He said the government would continue to "pursue policies that are consistent with economic and jobs recovery".
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