THE country’s overall unemployment rate has decreased by a little over one per cent due to more women joining the work force and despite a drop in the number of employed men.
The Department of Statistics’ Labour Force and Household Income Survey noted a “noticeable decrease” of 1.2 percentage points in the unemployment rate – which now stands at 14.7 per cent for the country. A near five per cent drop in youth unemployment was also reported.
This means that 191,455 persons are now employed.
In a statement released yesterday, the Department said the increase is in part due to a small increase in women joining the workforce.
“Women were the main contributors to this increase with their numbers growing by 3.6 per cent compared to a decline of 2.4 per cent for men,” the Department said.
“This is reflected in the overall participation rate which remained basically the same.
“The participation rate for women increased by 1.5 percentage points while that of males fell by 1 percentage point.”
In both New Providence and Grand Bahama, the number of women in the total labour force and the employed labour force exceeded that of men and there were more unemployed men than women in both islands, the Department added.
Additionally, it was revealed that the unemployment rate for young persons – those ages 15-24 – now stands at 29.4 per cent which is a decline of 4.6 percentage points over the last six month.
There was a “moderate increase” in the number of employed persons – 3,145 – and a “noticeable decrease” in the number of unemployed persons which resulted in a decline of 1.2 percentage points in the unemployment rate, which now stands at 14.7 per cent for the country.
“Both New Providence and Grand Bahama experienced a decline in the unemployment rate,” the Department said.
“In the case of New Providence the rate fell from 15.1 per cent to 14 per cent and in Grand Bahama from 21.2 per cent to 17.3 per cent.”
Statistics also reveled that the number of discouraged workers – those persons who are a part of the labour force, but who are not employed and not seeking employment – declined by 3 per cent.
“When examined by sex, the decline was greatest among women – 24 per cent – as opposed to men whose number increased by 28 per cent. New Providence experienced a decline of 3 per cent in the number of discouraged workers while the reverse was the case in Grand Bahama where the numbers increased by 12 per cent.
“Additionally, results from the survey suggest that persons involved in the informal sector activities continue to decline over the period,” the Department continued.
The informal sector consists of persons who are engaged in a part of an economy that is not taxed or monitored by the government.
The Department explains these workers usually have no contract, little or no form of job security, no fixed hours, nor employment benefits such as sick or maternity pay and often no fixed location from which they operate.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID