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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Bahamas Information Services Updates Hightlights
Two of the three most populated islands that were surveyed experienced decreases in their unemployment rates, and one experienced an increase. At the time of the survey, the rate in New Providence was 9.4%; and in Grand Bahama 10.9%. On the other hand, Abaco’s unemployment rate increased from 7.7% May to 9.3%.
Employment gains were driven by private sector employees which increased by 1.8% to 137,605 persons when compared to November. Additionally, the number of self-employed persons remained unchanged 32,475 since November 2018.
The “Hotel and restaurant” sector experienced the greatest increase since May 2018 (24%) while the “Community, Social and Personal Service” industry, which includes the civil service, police service and domestic service continued to be the country’s largest employer in May 2019 and accounted for 35% of the workforce.
The vulnerable employment remain basically unchanged since May 2018 with no difference in its rate of 6.9% of total employment. Males (11,355) still dominate this category. These workers as defined by ILO are less likely to have formal work arrangements, and more likely to lack decent working conditions and are often characterized by inadequate earnings and benefits.
Women were more likely than men to be unemployed
Overall, the unemployment rate for women dropped to 9.9% in May, compared to 9.2% for men. Young women, those aged 15-24 and core-aged women, those aged 25 to 54, were more likely to be unemployed than their male counterparts. By contrast, men aged 55 years and over were slightly more likely to be unemployed when compared with women in their same age cohort.
To view full Labour Force Survey MAY 2019 see attached
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Employment rose by 4,330 in May when compared to November 2018 and reached about 215,000 persons. On a year-over-year basis, employment grew by 6,635 or 3.2%. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate dropped to 9.5%, down from 10.7% in November.