Unemployment Drops to 3.3% in April 2025

• Data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s (STATIN’s) Labour Force Survey (LFS) revealed the unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in April 2025. The 3.3% rate marks a decline from 4.2% in April 2024.
• The total number of unemployed individuals amounted to 50,000, down from 62,800 in April 2024. Male unemployment was 2.5%, down from 3.3%, while females’ unemployment was 4.3%, down from 5.3% in April 2024. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed youth (persons aged 14-24) decreased by 9,800 to 19,600, representing a 33.3% total reduction.
• The labour force, consisting of 1,494,400 people as of April 2025, increased by 11,300 since April 2024. However, the total participation rate decreased marginally from 69.3%, down 0.5 percentage points compared to April 2024.
• Despite the decline in participation rate over 12 months, employment levels rose across most categories. The Employed Labour Force totalled 1,444,500 individuals, reflecting an increase of 24,200 persons (+1.7%) compared to April 2024. The number of employed males increased by 7,300 (+1.0%) to 769,500, while the number of employed females grew by 16,800 individuals (+2.6%) to 674,900.
• This growth was led by the occupation group ‘Services and Sales Worker’, reflecting an increase in employment of 21,200 persons (6.5%), while the ‘Professionals’ was the occupation group with the second highest increase of 7,000 individuals (5.7%).

(Source: STATIN)