Barbados UnemploymentIncreased
Another 1,400 Barbadians have become unemployedin the first quarter of this year, bringing the total of unemployedpersons to 14,600, and reflecting an overall unemployment ratein the country of 10.3 per cent.
This according to a report published bythe Barbados Advocate newspaper.
According to statistics collected and releasedthrough the Continuous Household Labour Force Survey, the unemploymentrate for the first quarter ending March 31, 2002 represented a1.0 percentage point increase over the 9.3 per cent for the correspondingquarter and a slight increase of 0.4 of a percentage point overthe annual rate of 9.9 per cent.
In the first quarter, the unemployment ratefor males stood at 8.8 per cent compared to 7.7 per cent in thesame quarter for the previous year. This figure, noted the Ministryof Economic Development in a Press release, "was the highestfirst-quarter rate since 1998, when 9.9 per cent of the malesin the labour force were unemployed".
Similarly, the rate for females rose from11 per cent in the first quarter of 2001, to 12 per cent duringthe review quarter, to become the highest first-quarter rate forfemales since the 14.1 per cent recorded in 1999.
In the review period, observed the survey,"the employed labour force totalled 126,700 persons or 2,200fewer than the 128,900 persons employed during the correspondingquarter in 2001. Conversely, the unemployed labour force expanded,albeit by fewer persons, to 14,600 from 13,200 in the same quarterof 2002.
"During the January to March 2002 period,the overall labour force stood at 141,300 persons or 8,600 personsfewer than were eligible during the corresponding quarter of 2001."
Those who were inactive, and therefore excludedfrom the labour force, rose by 1 800, indicated the survey, observingthat at the end of the review period 64,600 persons were "economicallyinactive", compared with 62,800 at the end of the first quarterin 2001.
In the review quarter, Government servicesand general services provided the largest number of jobs, employing26 700 persons and 23,100, respectively. Wholesale and retailtrade accounted for 18,900 jobs; tourism 13,900 jobs; constructionand quarrying, 12,600 jobs; finance and business services 11,800 positions, and manufacturing 8,300.
"Although the unemployment rate rosein the review period, it remained among the lowest in the regionand mirrored the general decline in economic activity, especiallyin key employment generating industries," the ministry noted.
Labour Relations officials in the CaymanIslands revealed in a press conference last week that the unemploymentrate in the Cayman Islands could be as high as 10 percent-plus,and growing.
News Source: The Barbados Advocateonline