As employment levels steadily trend upward, the unemployment level is doing the reverse. According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) Labour Force Survey for April 2019, the number of unemployed people was 105,400.

This represents a decrease of 25,900 persons or 19.7 per cent when compared to April 2018.

The survey revealed that the number of unemployed males decreased by 13,000 or 24.6 per cent to 39,900 in April 2019, while the number of unemployed females, which stood at 65,500, saw a decline of 12,900 or 16.5 per cent.

The general unemployment rate of 7.8 per cent was 2.0 per cent lower than the previous year which recorded 9.8 per cent.

Male unemployment rate declined by 1.8 percentage points to 5.5 per cent, and the female rate declined by 2.1 percentage points to 10.6 per cent.

The unemployment rate for youth (those between 14-24 years) was 19.5 per cent. This represented a decrease of 6.4 percentage points when compared to the figure of the previous year. The unemployment rate for male youths stood at 14.5 per cent while the rate for female youths was 25.8 per cent.

From a release sent, the category classified as ‘Outside the Labour Force’ also saw a decrease of 0.7 per cent or 4800 people less when compared to April 2018. This decrease was entirely accredited to males. Males outside the labour force in April 2019 were 292,800, a decline of 5,500.