Unemployment Drops to 3.6% in July 2024

  • Data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) Labour Force Survey (LFS) revealed the unemployment rate stood at 3.6% in July 2024, down from 4.2% in April 2024.
  • The total number of unemployed individuals amounted to 52,600, down from 62,800 in April, with females making up 52.5% of unemployed individuals. 19,500 of the unemployed persons were youth (aged 15 to 24 years), with females accounting for 10,100 or 51.8%.
  • Overall, female and youth unemployment were higher. Female unemployment stood at 4.0% compared to males who had a 3.2% rate of unemployment. However, Youth unemployment was higher at 10.4%, with young adult females having a higher unemployment rate of 11.8% compared to 9.1% for young adult males.
  • Of note, the labour force1 shrank to 1,461,600 persons, from 1,483,100 in April 2024. 775,300 (53.0%) were males, while 686,300 (47.0%) were female. The decline in the labour force reflects a lower participation rate of 67.8%, down slightly from 68.8% in April.
  • Regarding employee distribution across occupation groups, the ‘Services and Sales Workers’ segment employed the highest number of individuals at 338,200 or 24.0% of the labour force. The second largest was ‘Skilled Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Workers’ with 190,500 workers, followed by ‘Elementary Occupations’, with 185,900 workers.
  • The ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles’ remains the largest employer, engaging 265,200 or 18.8% of the individuals. The second largest industry group was ‘Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing’, with 201,000 or 13.8% of persons employed.
  • The latest unemployment figure beats expectations for unemployment levels to inch up in 2024, given Jamaica’s economic slowdown to a 0.2% YoY growth in Q2 2024 and a subsequent contraction of 2.8% for Q3 2024.
  • The unemployment data for April and July, reflects the new labour force series, introduced in January 2024 when unemployment amounted to 5.4%. It represents a break in the series and as such is not comparable with previous survey data. The new series incorporates the latest guidelines from the International Labour Organization (ILO), which resulted in, inter alia, a significant change in the definition of employment and unemployment.

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1The labour force refers to the sum of those either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed)

(Source: STATIN & NCBCM Research)