Some 30,100 fewer persons were employed as of January 2026 compared to the year before, and Jamaica’s labour force also fell by 33,000 during the same period, according to key indicators from the January 2026 Labour Force Survey (LFS) released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) on Tuesday (March 31).
“These shifts resulted in an unemployment rate of 3.6 per cent relative to 3.7 per cent in January 2025,” stated STATIN in its release.
Parishes hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa experienced the greatest decline in participation in the labour force, STATIN disclosed on Tuesday. The western parishes were hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa on October 28 last year.
A total of 1,389,400 persons were employed, reflecting a decline of 30,100 individuals, the LFS stated. The number of unemployed persons is estimated at 51,500, down from 54,500 the previous year.
The indicators showed lower participation in the labour force, which totalled 1,441,000 individuals in January 2026. During the period, the male labour force fell by 16,900 to 769,200, while the female labour force declined by 16,100 to 671,800. The overall labour force participation rate was 66.8 per cent relative to 68.4 per cent in January 2025.
Speaking at STATIN’s quarterly media briefing on Tuesday, Director General, Leesha Delatie-Budair noted that in the five parishes most affected by Melissa the labour force participation rates declined by 6.4 percentage points to 62 per cent in January 2026.
“In the January 2026 period, the total number of persons outside the labour force was 714,800. And this represented an increase of 4.8 per cent. However, for the five most affected parishes, the number of persons outside the labour force was 192,100, an increase of 20.5 per cent,” Delatie-Budair said.
However, despite fewer persons working, the unemployment rate for January 2026 was 3.6 per cent, down slightly compared to 3.7 per cent in January 2025.
The labour force in Jamaica, as defined by the STATIN, refers to persons who are either employed or actively seeking employment. An employed person is defined as someone who is working for at least one hour during the reference week for pay or for profit, in cash or kind.
STATIN said it deployed an abridged version of the standard LFS questionnaire to the western parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Hanover, and Trelawny during January as it had done during October last year.
luke.douglas@gleanerjm.com
