Jamaican labour force increased by 2.4% in October 2021
/ Our Today
administrator
The labour force in Jamaica increased by 31,000 during October 2021 but employment jumped more than twice that amount to 76,000 during the period.
According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) in October 2021, the number of persons outside the labour force declined to 29,000. Furthermore, females accounted for 57 per cent (43,700) of the increase in employment (76,000).
STATIN reported that, “the largest share of the increase in employment for females was in the occupation group ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’ and the industry group ‘Real Estate and Other Business Services’”.
In October 2021, the labour force comprises 1,329,100 Jamaicans, in comparison to October 2020. The labour force rose by 31,400 (2.4 per cent) from 1,297,700. STATIN reports that male participation in the labour force increased by 10,700 (1.5 per cent) to 715,300, while female participation holds the larger increase by 20,700 (3.5 per cent) to 613,800.
More females gained employment than males
Women held a larger increase in the number of persons employed by 43,700 (8.5 per cent) compared to male growth by 32,900 (5.1 per cent). There were 1,234,800 persons employed in October 2021, an increase of 76,600 (6.6 per cent), in comparison to October 2020 1,158,200 persons.
Though the increase in female occupancy is greater than that of the male, the number of employed males continues to be higher at 676,200, versus female total at 558,600. Additionally, STATIN noted, “the occupation group ‘Professionals, Senior Officials and Technicians’ had the largest increase in employment of 25,800 persons (10.1 per cent)”.
Employment also increased in the groups ‘Elementary Occupations’ and ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’, by 14,500 and 14,400 respectively”. Notably, males have larger share of increase by 10,000 in the group ‘Elementary Occupations’, while females accounted for the larger share of increase by 13,500 in the group ‘Professionals, Senior Officials and Technicians’.
Also, all the increase in the group ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’ was due to increased female employment.
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