Sep 2010 Financial News

Unemployment rises to 6.7%

Sep 20, 2010

An increase in the labour force and a rise in unemployment, particularly in the construction sector, social services and distributive trades, marked the first quarter of 2010 the Central Statistical Office (CSO) announced in its Labour Force Bulletin.

According to the CSO, the labour force of Trinidad and Tobago numbered 614,600 persons during the first quarter of 2010 compared to 613,500 for the fourth quarter of 2009.

However, the CSO said for the same period (first quarter of 2009) the size of the labour force fell by 2.4 per cent. The figures were released yesterday by the Government Information Services Ltd.

The CSO said when disaggregated by gender, the female component of the labour force increased by 7,700 or 3 per cent from 252,500 persons to 260,200 for the first quarter over the last quarter of 2009. By contrast the male component decreased by 1.8 per cent from 361,000 to 354,400 for the same period.

The unemployment rate the CSO said was due to the slowdown in the domestic economic activity following the global financial crisis which led to the overall reduction in employment

In the first quarter, this country's unemployment rate increased to 6.7 per cent from 5.1 per cent over the last quarter of 2010. This was attributed to the winding down of several large scale government projects and reductions in home construction.

Unemployed persons in the construction, community social and personal services accounted for 38 per cent; wholesale and retail trade accounted for 21.7 per cent; and the restaurant and hotel sector accounted for 21.2 per cent of the total number of unemployed persons in the first quarter of this year.

Between quarters, the unemployment rate in the energy sector as a percentage of the labour force increased by 4.5 per cent and a similar 4.5 per cent increase was observed for the construction sector.

The unemployment rate for the female labour force was higher than that for the male component of the labour force during the first quarter. The female unemployment rate increased from 5.9 per cent in the fourth quarter to 7.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 while the unemployment rate for males increased from 4.5 per cent to 6.3 per cent over the same period.

The CSO said that the number of employed persons fell by 9,100 persons or 1.6 per cent, that is, from 582,600 person to in the fourth quarter to 573,500 persons in the first quarter of 2010. The largest decrease was observed among males, where person with jobs fell by 13,100 person or 3.8 per cent. The increase in females with jobs by 4,000 person or 1.7 per cent helped to counterbalance the overall decline.

The CSO said that despite the contraction of the economy, some industries, such as, transport, storage and communication; and professions such as, technicians and associate professionals, agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, experienced increases.


Source:
Trinidad Express
Sunday September 19, 2010

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Unemployment_rises_to_6_7_-103256504.html