The unemployment rate for December 2015 for Jamaica edged down to 13.3 percent, a 0.9 percentage point decrease, compared to 14.2 percent in December 2014.
The number of unemployed persons decreased by 9,900, from 188,000 in December 2014, to 178,100 in December 2015, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica reported in April.
While the unemployment numbers decreased by just under 10,000 persons, more Jamaicans gained employment than the fall in the unemployed numbers. A total of 31,400 persons obtained employment in December 2015 over the similar period in 2014, resulting in 1,163,600 employed persons in the work force said by the STATIN to be 1,341,700 persons as of December 2015. In December 2014, a total of 1,132,200 residence in Jamaica were said to be employed.
Archives for May 2016
Unemployment edge down
Post budget stock growth seen
Gary Peart, Chief Executive of Mayberry Investments.
Jamaican stocks declined since reaching record levels between January and early February, ahead of the general elections held in late February, but Gary Peart, Chief Executive officer of Mayberry Investments expects the price of Jamaican stocks to continue to grow in 2016 after the completion of the 2016/7 budget debate.
The local stock market doubled in 2015 and reached a peak earlier in 2016, declined in the run up to and after the general election. The All Jamaica Index closed on a high of February 4, at 183,366.39 points, gaining 9.6 percent for the year but declined to 170,638.70 on the day of election, on February 25, since then it has fallen further as low as 164,504.76 on April 21 and now sits at 166,630.36 just below the 2015 close of 167,363.25.
The junior market that peaked at 2,357.20 points on January 12 for an increase of 31 percent since December, declined as low as 1,762.87 on April 7, 
with some recovery since, to close at 2,064.85 on the last trading day of April and is up compared to the 1,791.05 points the market closed out 2015 at.
According to Peart, in an executive commentary on Mayberry’s March 2016 quarterly report, things should change after the current budget presentation.
According to Peart, “Despite the reduced enthusiasm from investors as the market awaits the outcome of the 2016/2017 budget, we believe that the confidence in the market will continue and the volumes and transaction levels in the equities market will grow as the equity market continues to outperform fixed income securities investments. The Government has committed to keeping the incentives for the Junior Stock Exchange in place and we consider this a positive move for achieving growth in the economy whilst increasing investors’ returns.”
