Acting Director of the Department of Statistics Leona Wilson addresses a press conference January 21, 2019 at the department's offices to release Labour Force Survey Preliminary Results, November 2018. (BIS Photo/Kristaan Ingraham)
|
Employment rose by 2,305 in November when compared to May 2018 and reached about 211,000 persons. On a year-over-year basis, employment grew by 6,830 or 3.4%. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate rose to 10.7%, up from 10.0% in May, as the number of people looking for work increased.
Highlights
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 Grand Bahama was 11.9%; and in Abaco 7.7%. On the other hand, New Providence’s unemployment rate increased from 10.1% May to 11.0%.
Among the employed labour force, there were more men (110,280) than women (100,280). However, in all the islands surveyed except Grand Bahama, men were fewer in numbers among the unemployed labour force.
Employment gains were driven by private sector employees which increased by 3.8% to 135,135 persons when compared to May. Additionally, the number of self-employed persons stood at 32,475, an increase of 11.9% since May.
Women were more likely than men to be unemployed
Overall, the unemployment rate for women reached 11.3% in November, compared to 10.0% 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 Department of Statistics Labour Force Survey Preliminary Results, November 2018 see attached
