Urban unemployment throughout 24 regional nations positioned Jamaica the fourth worst and Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) third best performer despite both nations being statistically tied seven years ago.

Jamaica and T&T have see-sawed away from the Latin America & Caribbean average of 8.1 per cent urban unemployment in 2009, by a margin of one-third for each country. Its just that their movement was in opposite directions with Jamaica’s urban unemployment rate at 11.3 per cent and T&T’s at 5.3 per cent in 2009 according to a bulletin published last week by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and International Labour Organisation (ILO). The 20 page bulletin was entitled, The Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean June 2010. In 2003 both countries were statistically even with urban unemployment rates at 10.9 and 10.5 per cent respectively. This incidentally was better than the regional average of 11.2 per cent in 2003, however in seven years T&T has halved its urban unemployment whilst Jamaica had not.

ECLAC is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Urban unemployment is vital statistic for urban planning and for crime and poverty reduction.

Countries with higher urban unemployment than Jamaica in 2009 included affluent Bahamas at 12.4 per cent, Dominican Republic at 14.9 per cent and Colombia at 13 per cent. Countries with the lower urban unemployment than T&T were Cuba at 1.7 per cent and Honduras at 4.9 per cent. Since 2000, Jamaica’s lowest urban unemployment rate was in 2007 at 9.8 per cent and its highest rate was 15.5 per cent in 2000. T&T reduction was in line with that territory’s general development trend over the last decade supported by an oil boom.

The bulletin stated that the region was recovering faster than expected from the economic downturn but “the unemployment rate may be expected to record a modest drop, it may not return to pre-crisis levels”.

The bulletin stated that the region made strides since 2005 which had been eroded in part by the decline.

“Following a five-year period during which economic and social performance in Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed anything seen in recent decades, the global economic and financial crisis not only hurt macroeconomic variables but also impacted heavily on labour markets in the region’s countries. Between 2003 and 2008 employment rates had risen considerably, especially in the formal sector, but the crisis spelled a reversal of this trend,” it stated.

Jamaica’s unemployment hints at further ills in the island which already trails the region in key socio-economic statistics.

In 2009 Jamaica recorded the second highest inflation rate and the sixth lowest estimated growth rate among 33 regional nations in 2009 according to ECLAC’s Annual Statistical Yearbook published earlier this year. Additionally, the annual statistics over eight years showed that Jamaica’s FDI inflows grew four times slower than growth throughout the Caribbean. Also Jamaica’s external debt grew twice as fast as the Caribbean as a whole and 16 times faster than Latin America over the period. At the same time, Jamaica’s trade deficit worsened three times faster than the Caribbean region but slightly worse than Latin America.

Jamaica’s ranking in other reports have also declined, the country ranked 100 in the 2009 UN Human Development Index (HDI) versus 92 in 2006. Jamaica is third to last in the index among Caribbean countries led by Barbados ranked 37 globally versus 39 in 2006. Guyana and Haiti trail Jamaica at 114 and 149 respectively. The Doing Business 2010 report, a joint publication of the World Bank, International Finance Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers, ranked Jamaica one of the 10 most difficult countries in the world to pay taxes–174 out of 183 countries