Unemployment Plunges Further; 4.5% in July 2023

  • STATIN reported that the unemployment rate in July 2023 was 4.5%, 2.1 percentage points lower than in July 2022.
  • In July 2023, the number of persons in the Labour Force was 1,377,300, an increase of 19,600 (1.4%) compared to July 2022. The male labour force increased by 8,400 (1.2%) to 734,400 and the female labour force by 11,200 (1.8%) to 624,900.
  • The participation rate for males (71.2%) and females (60.1%) increased by 0.7 and 1.0 percentage points, respectively. The largest increase in the participation rate for persons by age group was for those 20-24 years (2.1 percentage points).
  • ‘Elementary Occupations’ and ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers accounted for the largest increases in the employed workforce. There were 173,800 persons employed in this occupation group in July 2023, an increase in employment of 23,500 persons (15.6%) relative to July 2022. Nearly two-thirds (63.0%) of this increase was in male employment. The number of persons employed as ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’ was 304,500, an increase of 13,800 (4.7%) compared to 290,700 in July 2022. Two-thirds (65.2%) of this increase was female. There were 142,700 ‘Clerks’ employed in July 2023 compared to 132,000 in the similar quarter of 2022. Approximately 89.5% of that increase was female.
  • The number of persons employed as ‘Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers’ declined by 8,500 (4.7%) to 173,400 persons, 129,900 males and 43,500 females. The number of males and females employed in this group decreased by 7,300 (5.3%) and 1,200 (2.7%), respectively.
  • The unemployment rate for July 2023 was 4.5%, which was 2.1 percentage points lower than the 6.6% in July 2022. The unemployment rate for males of 3.3% declined by 1.8 percentage points while the unemployment rate for females of 5.8% declined by 2.4 percentage points. For the youths, the unemployment rate was 13.2%, representing a decrease of 3.5 percentage points compared to 16.7% in July 2022.
  • The number of persons Outside the Labour Force was 722,800 in July 2023. This represents a decrease of 16,800 (2.3%) compared to 739,600 in July 2022. There were 296,700 males and 426,100 females outside the labour force. The number of males declined by 6,700 (2.2%), while the decrease for females was 10,100 (2.3%).

(Source: STATIN)