The labour force contracted by 1.6 per cent to 1, 337 575 workers, with males (53.9 per cent) still outnumbering females.

Average annual employment improved by 1.3 per cent to a record 1, 215, 975 workers. Unemployment rates in 2018 continued to trend down to 9.1 per cent from 11.7 per cent. In July of 2018, the unemployment rate declined to a low of 8.4 per cent, the lowest rate on record in Jamaica.

Those were just some of the many findings contained in the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) Economic and Social Survey for 2018. The survey was tabled in the Senate on Friday.

The country’s main planning agency reported in its 2018 Survey that the trade deficit worsened by US$77.0 million to US$4.2 billion, reflecting a US$592.5 million rise in the value of imports to US$6.1 billion which outpaced the US$515.5 million rise in the value of exports to US$1.9 billion.

Export earnings were boosted by the exports of alumina, bauxite and mineral fuels, which together accounted for 77.0 per cent of the value of exports. Increased expenditure on the imports of mineral fuels; machinery and transport equipment; chemicals; manufactured goods and food were mainly responsible for the rise in the value of merchandise imports.

In its Economic Performance Section, the PIOJ Survey stated in part:

The year 2018 represented a watershed year for Jamaica as all the key performance targets were met and several all-time best performances were achieved. With respect to the economy, some of the major achievements were as follows:

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