JAMAICA’S unemployment rate fell to a decades-low 6.2 per cent in January with 57,800 more people in a job this year than at the same time last year, according to data released on Thursday by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin).

The rate was 2.6 percentage points lower than the 8.8 per cent recorded for the corresponding period last year. Comparative data analysed by the Jamaica Observer showed no other period, up to 1968, in which the country’s unemployment rate was lower. In fact, the next best year for unemployment figures in Jamaica was October 2019, when the rate was 7 per cent.

Statin’s Director General Carol Coy, in presenting the findings at a quarterly briefing on Thursday, noted that while the unemployment rate was lower than that of previous periods, the number of employed persons within the current labour force remains below pre-COVID-19 levels.

“It should be noted that in spite of the lower unemployment rate in January 2022 (6.2 per cent) compared to January 2020 (7.3 per cent) — the quarter before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — there were more employed persons in January 2020 than in January 2022,” she stated.

The employed labour force up to the reporting period comprised approximately 1,257,100 persons. Only January 2020, the last period in which labour force data were released before the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, recorded a higher number of working people than January this year. In January 2020 a record 1,272,700 people were working.

Female employment increases

According to the data released, females recorded the larger increase in the number of people employed. “The number of employed females grew by 5.5 per cent while for employed males the increase was 4.3 per cent,” Statin’s data found, noting also that in terms of the size of the overall labour force, females also accounted for the larger portion — representing almost 63 per cent of the total increase.

“Overall, there were 1,340,600 persons in the labour force in January 2022; this represents an increase of 1.9 per cent or 24,800 persons compared to January 2021. There was a larger increase of females in the labour force [as] while the male labour force increased by 9,200 persons to 721,400 the female labour force increased by 15,600 persons to 619,200,” Coy said of the findings.

She said that within the “clerk’ occupation group that accounted for the largest increase in employment, possessing some 22,100 people, females also held the majority of these figures following the employment of over 13,000 individuals.

Employment by industry groups also saw the ‘Real Estate and Other Business Services’ segment capturing the bulk of the jobs after a 25 per cent increase which amounted to 126,600 people. This was followed by other industry groups including construction, accommodation and food services and manufacturing.

The number of individuals outside the labour force (people over 14 who are neither employed nor unemployed) for January 2022 was 755,600.

“Males outside the labour force declined by 8,000, while females declined by 14,400,” Statin’s data also revealed.