More Jamaicans were employment in July this year, than those that did a year ago, accordingly 29,200 or 2.5 percent more persons gained employment by July, raising the total persons employed to 1,216,200 up from 1,187,000, recorded in July 2016.
Increased employment, resulted in the unemployment rate for July 2017 declining to 11.3 percent, 1.6 percentage points lower than the rate of 12.9 per cent for July 2016 and is also down from the 12.2 percent achieved in April this year, The decrease was driven by a decline in the unemployment rate for both males and females.
The unemployment rate for males decreased from 9.5 per cent to 8.0 percent while that of the female decreased from 16.9 per cent to 15.2 per cent. The size of the July 2017 labour force increased over the corresponding period in 2016 with the number of persons in the Labour Force being 1,371,200 persons, an increase of 8,000 (0.6 percent) compared with the 1,363,200 recorded in July 2016.
This report presents the key findings of the July 2017 Labour Force Survey which was conducted during the period July – September 2017 with the reference week being June 18 -24, 2017.
The industry group “Hotels & Restaurants Services” increased by 11,000 (11.4 percent) moving from 96,400 in July 2016 to 107,400 in July 2017. The largest increase in the number of males employed (6,800) was in the industry group “Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing” moving from 145,200 to 152,000 representing a 4.7 per cent over the period. For females, the industry group “Hotels & Restaurants Services” accounted for the largest increase of 8,300 (14.9 percent) over the period, moving from 55,700 in July 2016 to 64,000 in July 2017.