Despite a slowing of economic growth in the Caribbean and Latin America, the labour market is strong and near full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.

This is according to the International Monetary Fund’s October 2023 Regional Economic Outlook for the Western Hemisphere.

The IMF’s report revealed that employment in the region is making a steady return to where it was before the pandemic, while unemployment is trending down.

“While we see a decline in growth and activity, we see that employment in the labour market is quite strong. The employment for LAC has almost recovered to the pre-pandemic trend and we can also see the unemployment rate below the average of the pre-pandemic rate. Labour force participation is still below what it was in the pre-pandemic but half of this is explained by the demographic trends and the exit of older workers from the labour force so there is still some way to go in the recovery of the labour force but not much,” said Anna Ivanova, deputy division chief in the regional studies division of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department.

She made the announcement while speaking at a presentation by the IMF on the findings of its regional outlook to stakeholders on Thursday, October 26, at the Bank of Jamaica in downtown Kingston.

The latest jobs survey report issued by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica shows that unemployment in Jamaica is at an historic low of 4.5 per cent.