The Statistical Institute of Jamaica says the unemployment rate for April 2018 has risen marginally when compared to the record figures for January 2018.
However, the unemployment rate has declined when compared to the corresponding period for 2017.
STATIN says in April 2018, the unemployment rate was 9.7 percent compared to 9.6 percent in January 2018. That’s a marginal 0.1 percentage point decline.
STATIN says this still compares favourably to the 12.2 percent in April 2017.
The latest figures from STATIN says there’s an increase in the number of persons employed in ‘Elementary Occupations’ in April 2018 compared to a year earlier, mainly among males.
It also says in April 2018, the industry group, Wholesale & Retail, Repair of Motor Vehicle & Equipment continued to account for the largest increase in employment.
STATIN says the Employed Labour Force for April 2018 was just over 1.2-million persons which was 14,700 more or 1.2 percent more than the recorded figure in April 2017.
In the same period, the number of employed males increased by 4,900 and females by 9,800.
STATIN also says the unemployment rate among youth aged 14 to 24 years was 25.8 percent in April 2018.
This represents a decrease of 3.2 percentage points when compared to the rate of 29 percent in April 2017.
Within the same period, the unemployment rate for male youth declined by 4.7 percentage points while the rate for female youth declined by 1.1 percentage points.
STATIN says in April 2018, the number of persons in the Labour Force declined by 20,700 or 1.5 percent.
The male labour force decreased by 12,300 persons and female decreased by 8,400 persons in April 2018.
STATIN says the number of persons classified as being outside the Labour Force was 743,000 in April 2018.
This represents an increase of 22,000 or 3.1-percent when compared to 721,000 in April 2017.
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