KINGSTON, Jamaica – 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.
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 from 5.1 percent to 17.7 percent for the review period, relative to January 2021. Coy pointed out that the male and female out-turns decreased by approximately five percent, with the latter recording the more significant decline.
“Male youth unemployment was 14.5 percent, while it was 21.8 percent for the females,” 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 last year’s corresponding period.
Females recorded the more significant 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 outside the labor force (neither employed nor unemployed) stood at 755,600 in January.
“Males outside the labor force declined by 8,000, while females declined by 14,400,” Coy told reporters.
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