KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) this morning reported a 12.6 per cent unemployment rate attained in its latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted for July.

The April LFS was previously cancelled by the data processing entity due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

According to STATIN’s Director General, Carol Coy the July unemployment figure represents a 4.8 percentage point increase when compared to the rate of 7.8 per cent recorded for the same period last year.

“The unemployment rate increased for both males and females. In July 2020, the unemployment rate for males increased to 11.5 per cent and females to 14.0 per cent,” she said at a digital press briefing.

The director general further said that the youth [ages 14-24] unemployment rate recorded for July was 30.4 per cent when compared to the rate of 20.2 per cent in July of last year. She said that a breakdown of the figure reflected an unemployment rate for male youth of 28.5 per cent, compared to 16.8 per cent last year.  Among females the rate was 33.1 per cent, some 8.6 percentage points higher than that of July 2019.

Coy said that for the period, the employed labour force consisted of 1,118,300 individuals. This was 135,800 fewer people [a 10.8 per cent decline] when compared to July 2019.

The institute said that for July 2020, there were 1,279,600 individuals in the labour force – a decline of 81,200 or 6.0 per cent when compared with July 2019.

In providing the findings from a COVID-19 module undertaken with the July LFS, Leesha Delatie-Budair, deputy director general of STATIN said that the survey found some 35 per cent of people being unemployed for COVID-19 related reasons as they had either stopped looking for work or stopped working as a result of COVID control measures.

Kellaray Miles