Trinidad records slight increase in unemployment

Trinidad and Tobago recorded a near one per cent increase in its unemployment rate for the last three months of 2009, according to figures released here yesterday by the Central Statistical Office (CSO).

It said that at the end of the fourth quarter 2009, the labour force dropped to 613,500 persons from the 616,100 or 0.4 per cent recorded for the third quarter.

The CSO data said a decline in the male labour force of 2.1 per cent from 368,700 to 361,000 accounted for the overall decrease in the labour force, while the female labour force increased by the same percentage during the period.

Further analysis

"As expected, the unemployment rate for Trinidad and Tobago fell 0.7 per cent to 5.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 from 5.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2009. This compares with an increase in the unemployment rate of 1.2 per cent between the third and fourth quarters of 2008," said CSO.

It said that the increase in unemployed came from the age group 30 to 49, but that "further analysis indicated that within this age group, there was an increase in persons who indicated they did not seek work because they were attending school".

CSO said that the data showed that "Persons with Jobs" increased by 0.4 per cent during the last six months of the year from 580,200 to 582,600 persons.

But it said that when the "number of Persons with Jobs in the fourth quarter of 2009 is compared with data for the fourth quarter, a decrease of 26,100 persons, or 4.3 per cent, was observed".

It said that the largest decrease in the unemployment rate between the third and fourth quarters last year was in the energy sector, where the unemployment rate declined from 7.9 per cent in the third quarter to 4.2 per cent in the last three months of 2009.