THE Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reporting that the country’s employment rate rose by 11,100 jobs, or one per cent, as at July of this year.

In its labour force survey for July of this year, STATIN is indicating that 1,094,700 persons are employed, compared to 1,083,600 employed in July of 2011.

The figure also represents an improvement over numbers presented for the previous quarter, which ended in April.

The sectors deemed by STATIN to be responsible for the growth are wholesale and retail as well as repair of motor vehicle and equipment.

These two categories, according to the data collection entity, added 13,800 jobs — moving from 200,800 in July 2011 to 214,600 in July 2012.

“The occupation groups — craft and related trades workers, service workers and shop and market sales workers — showed increased employment of 7,800 (5.6 per cent) and 7,300 (3.5 per cent) respectively between July 2011 and July 2012,” STATIN said in a news release yesterday.

The country’s inability to find jobs for its youth is also reflected in the data from STATIN, as unemployment among youth (14-24) was 32.2 per cent in July 2012, an increase of 3.5 percentage points over the 28.7 per cent reported in July 2011.

Despite this, STATIN said the information on youth unemployment for July is slightly better than the figure for the previous quarter when the unemployment rate among youths was 34.9 per cent.

There has also been a decline in the overall unemployment rate when compared with the figure one year ago. “In July 2012, the unemployment rate was 12.8 per cent, up from 12.3 per cent in July 2011,” said STATIN.

However, the data collection agency is indicating that despite the less than inspiring results of the comparison, the picture for July represents an improvement over the previous quarter. “When compared with the previous quarter (April 2012) the unemployment rate (July) decreased by 1.5 percentage points,” the agency explained.

Meanwhile, STATIN says the total labour force has increased since July 2011. According to the agency, the labour force in July 2012 was 1,256,000, an increase of 20,600 over the figure for July 2011.