The country’s unemployment rate increased by 3.5 percentage points between October 2019 and October 2020 to leave 10.7 per cent of Jamaica’s labour force unemployed.

The number were released yesterday by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) which further noted that the labour force declined by 51,500 or 3.8 per cent over the year.

During October 2019, the unemployment rate stood at 7.2 per cent. Since then, the onslaught of the novel coronavirus disease has affected all areas of society resulting in increased unemployment, closure or reduced operation of some businesses and wholesale contraction across all major industries.

At a quarterly press briefing held virtually yesterday, director general of STATIN Carol Coy, in reporting on the findings of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) held last October, said that up to the review period there were 137,800 people unemployed within the country.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/unemployment-figures-tick-upwards-as-covid-19-bites_212752