STATIN reports increased employment for real estate and other business services

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s (STATIN) October 2020 Labour Force Survey showed increased employment for ‘Real Estate and Other Business Services’.

This was the only industry group to record a growth in employment for the period.

STATIN Director General, Carol Coy, said that the workforce climbed by 11,100 persons, or 11 per cent, to 105,400.

The number of employed males increased by 6,700 or 11.8 per cent, while the complement of females rose by 4,400 or 8.8 per cent.

Coy was addressing STATIN’s digital quarterly briefing on Wednesday.

She said that the largest declines in employment were recorded in the categories – ‘Arts, Entertainment, Recreation and Other Services’, which fell by 36,900 persons or 27.9 per cent; ‘Accommodation and Food Service Activities’, down 23,400 persons or 22.1 per cent; and ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles’, which had 15,800 fewer persons, representing 6.6 per cent decline.

The Director General noted that the impact of the reduction was larger for females in each group.

“There were 14,300 fewer males in ‘Arts, Entertainment, Recreation and Other Services’ compared to a decline of 22,600 females. In ‘Accommodation and Food Service Activities’, there were 10,900 fewer males employed… and 12,500 fewer females. ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles’ had 7,100 fewer males and 8,700 fewer females in October 2020 than in October 2019,” she outlined.

Meanwhile, a breakdown of data on the employed labour force by occupation group shows the category -‘Elementary Occupations’- recording the largest decrease.

“There were 135,400 persons employed in this group, a decline of 34,000 or 20.1 per cent relative to October 2019,” the Director General indicated.

The second largest decrease occurred in ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’, which fell by 31,400 persons.

“For males, the largest decline was in the group ‘Craft and Related Workers’, which fell by 12,000 or 8.7 per cent. For females, the largest decline of 22,300 persons or 28.1 per cent was in the group ‘Elementary Occupations’ followed by a decline of 20,100 or 10.9 per cent in the group ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’,” Coy further pointed out.

Since STATIN’s July 2020 labour force survey, industry classification has been upgraded to reflect the Jamaica Industrial Classification 2016.

- JIS News

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