Jamaica’s unemployment rate stood at 3.3 per cent at the end of October 2025, when compared to 3.5 per cent in October 2024.

This was revealed on Thursday by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), in its October Labour Force Survey ((LFS).

According to STATIN, employment levels in October 2025 remained largely unchanged compared with the same period of 2024. It said a total of 1,413,200 persons were employed, reflecting a decline of 3,800 individuals. It said the number of unemployed persons was estimated at 48,800, down from 51,300 the previous year.

Meanwhile, 693,800 individuals were outside the labour force, an increase of 6,300 persons.

“These shifts resulted in an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 3.5 per cent in October 2024,” said STATIN.

It is also reporting that in October 2025, the labour force totalled 1,462,000 individuals, reflecting a decline of 6,300 compared with October 2024. The male labour force fell by 11,900 to 777,200, while the female labour force increased by 5,600 to 684,800. The overall labour force participation rate was 67.8 per cent relative to 68.1 per cent in October 2024.

The Institute noted that “the data provide an important snapshot of Jamaica’s labour market prior to the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28, 2025”.

It cited that the hurricane caused significant disruption to its field operations, particularly in the western parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Hanover, and Trelawny.

STATIN explained that, “In these areas, STATIN deployed an abridged version of the standard LFS questionnaire to ensure the continuation of data collection while capturing the core labour market indicators. Therefore, some of the usual indicators could not be estimated for the quarter. Data collection for the LFS is typically completed within six weeks of the reference week. However, due to the extensive impact of Hurricane Melissa, both data collection and processing activities were extended by an additional two weeks”.