The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reporting that the island’s employment levels are still not where they were before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as the labour force dropped nearly six per cent in January 2021 when compared to the corresponding period last year.

At a virtual quarterly press briefing on Thursday (April 15), Director-General Carol Coy explained that currently, 1,194,800 Jamaicans are actively part of the employed labour force.

The figure is 74,300 labourers less than STATIN recorded in the January 2020 period, which the agency said represented a 5.9 per cent shrink.

While both genders felt a sizeable decline in respective contributions to the overall employed labour force, joblessness seemed to affect Jamaican women more as the decline was two points sharper among females than males.

“The number of employed males went down by 4.9 per cent, while the number of employed females declines by 40,200 or 6.9 per cent,” Coy explained.

In January 2021, there were 656,200 men in Jamaica’s employed labour force, and 538,600 women when compared to January last year.

Looking more granularly at the impact on certain industry groups, STATIN found that the accommodation and food services sector felt the hardest blow, losing some 27,400 employees—a 27.4 per cent decline.

Arts and entertainment services was the second worst-hit sector, falling 18,800 labourers (or 14.5 per cent), with wholesale and retail trade, motor repairs (15,400 or a 5.9 per cent decline); transport and storage (9,900); as well as education, human health and social work activities (9,100) rounding out the top five affected industry groups.

STATIN observed an increase in the number of Jamaicans employed in the construction industry, which went up 7.2 per cent.

All occupational groups, excluding professionals, senior officials and technicians, saw a decline in employed persons. Service workers, as well as shop and market sales workers, fell by a whopping 12.9 per cent or 38,900 labourers, mostly women, in January 2021.

There was also a steep slump for craft and related-trade workers (with 14,700 fewer labourers or a 9.3 per cent decline); elementary occupations (9,900); plant and machine operators and assemblers (6,400); as well as skilled agricultural and fishery workers (4,400).

According to STATIN, some 116,100 more Jamaicans were unemployed in January 2021—representing a 15.6 per cent jump.

In a comparison with January 2020, STATIN observed that 53,600 males (a 23.5 per cent spike) were unemployed in January 2021, while for women, it was a 9.6 per cent rise as some 62,500 persons were out of work.