Jamaica’s unemployment dropped to the lowest on record at 8.4 percent in July 2018, down from July 2017 when the rate was 11.3 percent. The previous lowest unemployed rate was 8.6 percent reached on October 2007 before the country economy went into contraction.
Importantly, 1,226,400 persons were employed in July this year, an increase of 12,800 above the number recorded in July 2017. Helping with the sharp reduction in the rate of employment, was a simultaneous reduction in the number of persons in the labour force to 1,338,200 persons, a decrease of 2.2 percent compared to July 2017, Statin stated in their release of the data.
The male labour force, of 723,600 persons in July 2018 decreased by 1.5 percent relative to July 2017 while the female labour force decreased by 3 percent to 614,600 persons. The number of males employed increased by 5,900 to 681,800 while female employment increased by 6,900 to 544,600.
Construction saw increased employment.
The number of unemployed persons declined by 27.7 percent to 111,800 persons in July 2018, compared to July 2017. The number of unemployed males decreased by 28.6 percent to 41,800, while unemployed females decreased by 27.2 percent to 70,000. Unemployed youth, aged 14 to 24 years, decreased by 14,600 persons to 45,200 in July 2018.
