Jamaica’s unemployment falls

Jamaica’s Unemployment Rate fell by 0.7 percentage point in towards the end of September but remains at a stubborn 13.5 percent of persons said to be in the workforce, a decrease from to 14.2 percent at the same time in 2014.
Over the period, the unemployment rate for males declined from 9.9 percent to 9.3 percent and for females from 19.4 percent to 18.5 percent.
The number of persons Unemployed in September 2015 was 178,600, a decrease of 7,600 compared with 186,200 in September 2014. “The largest increase in the number of employed persons occurred in the industry group ‘Hotels and Restaurants Services’ and ‘Real Estate, Renting & Business Activities’ with a total of 23,700 persons,” the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) said.
A total of 22,600 more workers were employed compared with September 2014 bringing the total to 1,146,600 employed persons in September 2015.