Holness says Jamaica near full employment

Kingston – Prime Minister Andrew Holness, says Jamaica is close to full employment as the country reached a record low unemployment level of 4.5 per cent.

In a statement Wednesday, Holness described as “welcomed news’ the report by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) that the out-turn, based on the April 2023 Labour Force Survey, was 1.5 percentage points lower than the figure for the corresponding period in 2022.

“We are now close to full employment… [and] that our economy continues to expand,” Holness said, adding “but what it really means is that more Jamaicans have income.

“It means that more Jamaican families can do much better than they were doing before,” said Holness, who is also the Minister of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

“This is the best news that our economy can have…we are building Jamaica”.

Speaking at STATIN’s quarterly digital media briefing on Tuesday, Director General, Carol Coy, said that the number of unemployed people in April this year fell by 19 700, or 24.3 per cent, to 61 300, compared to the corresponding period in 2022.

She noted that the number of unemployed males fell by 8 900, or 26.3 per cent, to 24 900, while the corresponding out-turn for females dropped from 47 200 last year to 36 400 in April.

The number of unemployed youth, aged 14 to 24, was 24 600, a decrease of 6 800 or 21.7 per cent.

The number of employed people increased by 43 300 to 1 312 600.

“Females accounted for over two-thirds of this increase. Employed females grew by 5.1 per cent or 29 700, while employed males increased by two per cent or 13 600,”  Coy said.

STATIN also advised that there was increased employment in all age groups. (CMC)