The labour force

• All persons in a given population who furnish the supply of

labour for the production of goods and services during a
specific time or reference period
• Who are the individuals in the labour force?
– All persons between a specific age set by the law in that country
ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - This fundamental convention
sets the general minimum age for admission to employment or work at 15 years
(13 for light work) and the minimum age for hazardous work at 18 (16 under
certain strict conditions).
It provides for the possibility of initially setting the general minimum age at 14 (12
for light work) where the economy and educational facilities are insufficiently
developed.
• In Jamaica person 14 + years who are working, seeking
work or available for work
• The labour force includes both the employed and the
unemployed
 LABOUR FORCE IN JAMAICA

• Up to 2017, the mandatory retirement age for public sector workers in

Jamaica was 60 years of age
• Annual expenditure for pensions said to be projected at 2% of GDP
for 2018 (Campbell, 2017).
• On April 1, 2018 The Pensions (Public Service) Act of 2017 came into
effect
– Those who joined the public service April 1, 2018 and existing
public sector workers 54 years old or younger as of April 1, 2018,
will be expected to retire at age 65 years (Stubbs- Gibson, 2019)
• No upper age limit for the private sector
ILO Guidelines
 Analysis of the labour force
Analysis based on two principles
• Gainfully occupied principle - past
• Activity principle - present
 Gainfully occupied population is based on the question .
Do you have a trade or profession from which you earn a living?

• Used prior to the adoption of the activity principle

• More subjective measure
based on the classification of the persons who reported
themselves as having an occupation, profession or
trade from which they earned an income ( cash or
kind) or in which they had assisted in the production
of goods and services, irrespective of if they had
actually worked or sought work during the reference
period
 Gainful occupation
• Good measure of the potential labour
supply
• Helps you to identify the level of skilled
persons in the population
Limitations of the gainfully occupied
approach
• Does not distinguish between the employed
and unemployed
• Retired persons although not available for
work would have stated their previous
occupation
• Persons now entering the labour force who
did not have an occupation to report would
be excluded
 Activity principle
Based on the question. What were you doing during the reference week of the survey? Used to
determine those who were working/economically active

– Persons who were economically active

• On the job or vacation leave (with or without pay), sick leave, bad
weather, strike, lockdown, lay off with, <30 dys, with instructions to
return.

– Since the emphasis is to determine the labour force . We also

have to be able to identify those who are seeking work /or willing
and able to accept work if offered a job
– Under this principle work takes precedence.

– Prior to 1973 those who worked at least 8 hours were considered active.
– After 1973 those who worked one hour during the reference week were active
Labour Statistics
 Use of labour Statistics
Macro-economic monitoring
– Jobs crisis currently in several developed countries, social unrest
• Formulate, implement policies & programmes
– Employment creation
– Human resource development
– Poverty reduction
– Income support & social assistance programmes
- Monitor progress towards & attainment of national and international goals
– Decent Work Agenda
Categories of interest
To properly classified those who are in the labour force
and those outside the labour force the following questions
are asked.
• Did you do any work during the week ending…?
A. yes
B. no
• What were you doing most of the time during the week
ending…?
A. working
B. looking for work
C. at school full-time
D. with job not working
E. at home
F. incapable of working
 Economically Active / Employed
• The economically active population comprises all persons
of either sex who furnish the supply of labour for the
production of economic goods and services as defined by
law
• Categories include:
• Paid employment
– those who work for a wage or salary in cash or in kind
– those who are formally attached to a job but not at work
• Self employed persons
– those who are working on their own (own account worker) for
cash in the family business (also have unpaid family workers
workers)
– Workers engaged in seasonal activities
Reminder:
Persons working for at least one hour during the survey week.
 Categories of employed persons
• Wage/salary workers
• Those who work for commission, tips, for lodging
or any other type of payment cash or kind
• Trainees or apprentices (nurse, tradesman)
• Own a business or farm- usually referred to as
self-employed (including doctor, lawyer ,vendors to name a few)
• Non- paid/unpaid worker- family business
 Categories of the Unemployed
• Those persons who are without work, currently
available for work and seeking work ( job-seekers)
• Those persons who are without work, currently
available for work but not seeking work ( non job-
seekers)
• NOT INCLUDED: Those persons who are without
work, currently not available for work and currently
not seeking work.
• Those in categories 1&2 are of interest
 Unemployed persons:
• The unemployed comprise all persons above a specified age who during the
reference period were:
• (1) Without work
• (2) Currently available for work
• – Available for paid employment or self-employment during the
• reference period, and
• (3) Seeking work
• – Specific steps taken in a specified recent period to seek paid
employment or self-employment during the reference period.
 How do we to identify those who are looking for work?
• These are persons who
– Have registered at employment agency
– On call as available for work- nurse at registered hospital
– Visited a job sites ( office, construction site, factory etc.)
– Applied in person for a job (school leavers)
– Have written letters of application
– Advertised in the media
– Asked someone (friend, relative, politician or other) to find a job
for you
– Made investigations , with the intention of starting a business
– Looking for land, building, machinery or equipment to establish
own enterprise
– Arranging for financial resources
– Applying for permits, licenses, etc
 Number of Employed and Unemployed persons in Jamaica,
1991-2018
Year Employed Unemployed Percent
Unemployed
January1991 907500 160800 15.1

April 1995 964500 185300 16.1

April 1998 952700 173200 15.4

April 2000 924900 170000 15.5

April 2002 966300 168400 14.8
April 2005 1047200 146,100 12.2
April 2006 1,117,700 133,600 10.7
April 2009 11.4
January 2011 1,106,500 163,500 14.3
April 2012 1,081,300 179,900 12.9
2018 1,217,300 131,100 9.7
Not in the LF -Who are those persons within the working age
population who are not a part of the labour force?
• Working age generally classified as persons 15-64 years
• Those not apart of the labour force include:
– Full time students
– persons engaged in home duties i.e. housewives / househusbands
– Physically incapacitated persons, usually those who are mentally or physically
disabled to the point that they are incapable of holding down a job.
– Those who retired, either at an early age or after reaching the age of retirement
( income recipients (pensioners, renters, etc.)
– -volunteers in not for profit activities
In many countries, especially those in the developing would, persons have dual
statuses
• A full time student attending school and still working part-time
or full-time is very much a part of the labour force and can be
correctly classified as employed
• A student attending school and seeking work and available for work
according to ILO is a job seeker and should be counted as a part of
 Per cent age 14+ in Jamaica who are outside of the labour
force(LF)
• In 2012
• 44.7 % female population
• 29.9 % male population
14+ were outside of the labour force
In 2018
29.1 % male population
41.7 % female population
 Some Terms to Remember
• Working age pop- 15 to 64 years
• Labour force- persons 14-64
– Females: 14-60
– Males: 14- 65

Child labour:

(a) child aged 5-11years performing 1 hour of economic

work outside the house and 28 hours of domestic work per week*

(b) child aged 12-14 years performing 14 hour of economic

work outside the house and 28 hours of domestic work per week*
*source: Convention on the Rights of the Child
6.1% children aged 5-14 employed.8% aged 5-11, 2% 12-14yrs
Source: Jamaica Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2005)
 Employment rate
• This indicator captures the percentage of
the labour force who are employed.
• Cal:
employed .
employed + unemployed X 100
 Frictional unemployment
• Frictional unemployment sometimes called searched unemployment : used to
define a situation where persons are temporary between jobs. Usually occurs
as a result workers quitting their jobs or being fired . In some cases the
individual may have been looking for a better job, applies for a job or is
offered a job and resigns from his/her former job to take up a new job ( better
job). However at the time of the survey they are unemployed. To get at this we
would have to look at the duration of unemployment.

‘Unemployed by duration of unemployment revealed that 30 per cent were unemployed for
twelve months and over and 17 per cent were unemployed for six months but less than 12
months in October 2009. Eighteen per cent of the unemployed reported that they have never
worked. These proportions are not significantly different from what obtained in October 2008
when 31 per cent were unemployed for 12 months or over, 15 per cent were unemployed for 6
months but less than 12 months and 19 per cent of the unemployed had never worked.’( STATIN, Labour
 Cal unemployment rate
• Narrow rate :

Unemployed and seeking a job X100

Employed
+ Unemployed and seeking a job
 Broad rate
• Unemployed and seeking a job
+
unemployed but not seeking job X100
Employed + Unemployed and seeking a job+
unemployed but not seeking job
 Labour force participation rates
• Tells the per cent of persons 14 years and
over who are a part of the labour force., i.e.
available for work.

# persons employed + # persons unemployed X100

# persons in population aged14 and older
 Unemployment rates JAMAICA
Year Total Youth Adult

2005 11.2 25.5 8.2

2006 10.3 23.6 7.6

2007 9.8 23.7 7.7
2008 10.6 25.9 7.9
2009 11.4 27.1 8.9
2010 12.4 30.8 8.7
2011 12.7 30.1 9.9

2016 13.2
2017 10.4
2018 9.7
 Unemployment rates
Age group 2005 2008 2010 2017 (OCT) 2018

14-19 37.7 40.7 44.8 37.9 42.2

20-24 23.7 24.5 29.8 22.3 22.4

25-34 12.0 12.0 13.2 11.5 11.0
35-44 9.7 9.3 9.8 8.0 6.5
45-54 6.9 6.0 6.6 5.4 4.5
55-64 5.4 4.5 5.8 3.7 3.9
65+ 4.2 3.6 1.8 2.6 2.1
 Unemployment by sex in Jamaica
2018
Age group Males Females
14-19 33.0 55.5
20-24 18.3 27.7
25-34 7.7 14.4
35-44 4.3 9.5
45-54 3.2 5.9
55-64 3.6 4.3
65+ 2.6 1.3
TOTAL 7.3 12.5
Main labour force indicators Jamaican 2018
Jamaica October 2017 Jan 2017 April 2017 July 2017
TOTAL
 Employed labour force by Industry in Jamaica,
2012 and 2018
Industry  April 2012   % 2012   April 2018  April  2018 
Agriculture Hunting Forestry & Fishing 201,700 18.4 200,100 16.4
Mining & Quarrying 3,800 0.3 6,200 0.5
Manufacturing 78,100 7.1 81,000 6.7
Electricity Gas and Water Supply 6,700 0.6 6,500 0.5
Construction 82,000 7.5 100,200 8.2
Wholesale & Retail Repair of Motor Vehicle &
Equipment 217,100 19.8 243,700 20.0
Hotels & Restaurants Services 72,900 6.6 102,700 8.4
Transport Storage and Communication 70,600 6.4 75,200 6.2
Financial Intermediation 31,600 2.9 27,100 2.2
Real Estate Renting & Business Activities 57,400 5.2 80,200 6.6
Public Administration & Defence; Compulsory Social
Security 63,600 5.8 58,300 4.8
Education 66,300 6.0 75,800 6.2
Health & Social Work 27,400 2.5 34,000 2.8
Other Community Social and Personal Service Activities 55,600 5.1 68,300 5.6
Private Households with Employed Persons 61,600 5.6 54,700 4.5
Industry Not Specified (Incl. Extra-Territorial Bodies) 2,500 0.2 3,300 0.3
TOTAL EMPLOYED LABOUR FORCE 1,098,900 100.0 1,217,300 100.0
 Employed Male labour force by Industry in Jamaica, 2012 and 2018

Agriculture Hunting Forestry & Fishing 166,100 26.6 151,100 22.4

Mining & Quarrying 3,100 0.5 4,800 0.7
Manufacturing 51,200 8.2 52,300 7.8
Electricity Gas and Water Supply 5,200 0.8 5,200 0.8
Construction 78,900 12.6 97,400 14.4
Wholesale & Retail Repair of Motor Vehicle & Equipment 97,100 15.6 117,800 17.5
Hotels & Restaurants Services 28,900 4.6 43,300 6.4
Transport Storage and Communication 58,300 9.3 57,500 8.5
Financial Intermediation 10,600 1.7 8,600 1.3
Real Estate Renting & Business Activities 30,700 4.9 41,900 6.2
Public Administration & Defence; Compulsory Social Security 31,500 5.0 28,600 4.2
Education 16,100 2.6 18,500 2.7
Health & Social Work 8,400 1.3 6,400 0.9
Other Community Social and Personal Service Activities 24,200 3.9 26,800 4.0
Private Households with Employed Persons 12,100 1.9 11,800 1.8
Industry Not Specified (Incl. Extra-Territorial Bodies) 1,800 0.3 2,100 0.3
TOTAL EMPLOYED LABOUR FORCE 624,200 100.0 674,100 100.0
 Employed female labour force by Industry in Jamaica, 2012 and 2018
Agriculture Hunting Forestry & Fishing 35,600 7.5 49,000 9.0
Mining & Quarrying 700 0.1 1,400 0.3
Manufacturing 26,900 5.7 28,700 5.3
Electricity Gas and Water Supply 1,500 0.3 1,300 0.2
Construction 3,100 0.7 2,800 0.5
Wholesale & Retail Repair of Motor Vehicle & Equipment 120,000 25.3 125,900 23.2
Hotels & Restaurants Services 44,000 9.3 59,400 10.9
Transport Storage and Communication 12,300 2.6 17,700 3.3
Financial Intermediation 21,000 4.4 18,500 3.4
Real Estate Renting & Business Activities 26,700 5.6 38,300 7.1
Public Administration & Defence; Compulsory Social
Security 32,100 6.8 29,700 5.5
Education 50,200 10.6 57,300 10.5
Health & Social Work 19,000 4.0 27,600 5.1
Other Community Social and Personal Service Activities 31,400 6.6 41,500 7.6
Private Households with Employed Persons 49,500 10.4 42,900 7.9
Industry Not Specified (Incl. Extra-Territorial Bodies) 700 0.1 1,200 0.2
TOTAL EMPLOYED LABOUR FORCE 474,700 100.0 543,200 100.0
 Labour Market Interactions
Labour Force Labour Force
Supply Demand

Labour Market Outcomes

Unemployment
Underemployment

• Involuntary part-time work

• Low wages
• Occupational mismatch
 Factors Contributing to
Labour Force Structure
Population in Population
Base Period of Labour
• Births Force
• Deaths Age (14+)
• Migration in Current
Fertility Period
Changes

Educational Labour LABOUR FORCE

Enrolment Force SIZE and
Non-market sources Participation COMPOSITION
of Income Rates
(remittances,
welfare payments, etc.
Factors related to Labour Supply
Labour Force Supply

age structure
gender composition
education
training
work experience
attitudes
 Factors Related to
Labour Demand and Productivity
Labour Force Demand
(Job Supply)
macro-economic policy
investment
industrial structure
technology
global competitiveness
export processing
gender stereotyping
unionization
labour legislation
public works
organizational factors
illegal activity
social climate
status in employment
Changes in size of labour force in Jamaica 2000-2018

Year Male Female Total Male % of

total LF

2000 615600 479300 1094900 56.2

2002 624,700 510,100 113,480 55.0

2004 660700 534600 1,195,300 55.3

2005 664000 529300 1,193,300 55.6

2006 693,900 557,500 1,251,400 55.4

2011 680,800 July 554,600 1,235,400 55.1

2018 727,400 621,000 1,348,400 53.94

 Unemployment rate and number of persons in Jamaica who
were not in the labour force 2002-2018
Year Male Female Total
2002 220400 397000 617400
Unemployment rate (9.8) (19.3) (14.0)
2003 236100 419500 655600
(9.0) (17.1) (12.6)
2004 242900 416900 659800
(8.2) (18.8) 13.0)
2005 245,700 437,800 679,000
(8.8) (16.6)
2006 251400 432,500 683,900
(7.3) (14.9)
2011 296,000 476,700 772,700
2012 292,900 461,800 754,700
2018 298,900 444,100 743,000
 Unemployment by age 2011-2012
BOTH SEXES  
GROUP
Jul-11 Jul-12
TOTAL 12.3 12.8
     
14 - 19 43.1 46.3
20 - 24 25.2 29.3
25 - 34 13.2 14.7
35 - 44 10.1 9.3
45 - 54 7.5 7.5
55 - 64 4.6 5.3
  UNEMPLOYMENT RATES BY BROAD AGE AROUPS AND SEX

MALES
2011 2012
TOTAL 8.9 9.6
14 - 19 31.2 41.9
20 - 24 19.8 22.3
25 - 34 9.4 10.9
35 - 44 6.7 5.8
45 - 54 5.4 5.9
55 - 64 4.7 5.3
65 and over 3.7 2.5
  FEMALES
TOTAL 16.4 16.7
14 - 19 60.3 53.2
20 - 24 31.7 37.4
25 - 34 17.5 18.7
35 - 44 14 13.1
45 - 54 10.2 9.5
 Unemployment rates 2000
Age group Montserrat Anguilla Barbados
15-19 27.2 11.85 15-24 16.56
20-24 12.8 4.74
25-29 11.9 3.13 25—44 4.93
30-34 9.16 2.87
35-39 10.18 2.03
40-44 10.89 1.85
45-49 11.74 2.56 45-54 3.24
50-54 10.75 1.39
55-59 12.61 2.53 55-64 2.78
60-64 12.90 2.90
65-69 18.8 2.82 65+ 1.18
Total 12.06 3.2 6.17
  
Distribution of Labour force by
Occupational groups 2012 July
TOTAL %
Professionals, Senior Officials and Technicians 254,600 20.3
Clerks 113,900 9.1
Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers 250,800 20.0
Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers 199,900 15.9
Craft and Related Trades Workers 169,800 13.5
Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers 61,500 4.9
Elementary Occupations 169,300 13.5
Occupation not specified 1,700 0.1
CLASSIFIABLE LABOUR FORCE 1,221,500 97.3
NO PREVIOUS OCCUPATION 34,500 2.7
   
TOTAL LABOUR FORCE 1,256,000
Distribution of Labour force by sex and occupational groups, 2012
 occupational groups
male female sex ratios
Professionals, Senior Officials and Technicians 99,000 155,600
63.6
Clerks 26,300 87,600 30.0
Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales
93,200 157,600
Workers 59.1
Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers 163,100 36,800
443.2
Craft and Related Trades Workers 156,100 13,700 1139.4
Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers 57,300 4,200
1364.3
Elementary Occupations 77,000 92,300 83.4
Occupation not specified 1,000 700 142.9
CLASSIFIABLE LABOUR FORCE 673,000 548,500 122.7
NO PREVIOUS OCCUPATION 12,200 22,300 54.7
     
LABOUR FORCE 685,200 570,800 120.0
 Number of hours worked by male, female labour force 2012

   Total Males Females

TOTAL 1,094,700 100.0 619,400 100.0 475,300 100.0

Under 9 hours 17,700 1.6 7,200 1.2 10,500 2.2

9 to under 17 hours 18,700 1.7 7,100 1.1 11,600 2.4

17 to under 25 hours 40,100 3.7 17,800 2.9 22,300 4.7

25 to under 35 hours 63,400 5.8 34,200 5.5 29,200 6.1

35 to under 41 hours 445,600 40.7 219,200 35.4 226,400 47.6

41 to under 49 hours 206,000 18.8 130,000 21.0 76,000 16.0

49 hours and over 303,200 27.7 203,900 32.9 99,300 20.9

Persons Outside the Labour Force who Previously
Worked by
Reason Stopped Working, 2004
 Unemployment rate 2002 for
Selected C’ bean countries
Male Female Total
Jamaica 10.6 20.7 15.1
Barbados 8.7 12.1 10.3
Trinidad 7.8 14.5 10.4
St. Lucia 13.6 19.3 16.3
Bahamas 8.8 9.4 9.1
Belize 9.0 20.3 12.8
 Gender and Unemployment in
Jamaica
Year Male Female Total

2000 10.4 22.1 15.5

2002 10.5 20.2 14.8

2005 8.8 16.6 12.2

2006 7.3 14.9 10.7
2009 8.6 14.8 11.4
Occupations of the Employed Labour
Force, 1991.
 Unemployment 1998, 2002

Parish 1998 2002

Kingston 16.7 17.7
St. Andrew 10.4 11.5
St. Thomas 20.9 22.3
Portland 25.1 23.7
St. Mary 11.7 8.3
St. Ann 19.9 19.8
Trelawny 11.4 14.6
St. James 19.6 18.8
Hanover 20.2 26.8
Westmoreland 21.3 12.7
St. Elizabeth 15.2 10.5
Manchester 19.5 13.2
Clarendon 14.0 17.0
Percent Unemployed by Age and
Area - Jamaica
Age Groups KMA Other Rural
1995 towns, 1995 towns, 1995
All ages 10.6 21.0 16.2
15-19 27.2 56.1 44.1
20-24 19.6 33.7 3.1
25-34 9.2 17.2 14.1
35 and older 6.3 11.1 5.6
 Unemployed by age-group 2006
Age Groups Male Female Total
All ages 7.3 14.9 10.7
14-19 34.0 54.4 42.0
( 40.6:09)
20-24 13.5 29.3 20.6 (23.5)
25-34 7.9 16.3 11.8
35-44 3.5 10.7 6.9
54-54 4.4 7.8 5.9
55-64 4.2 4.7 4.4
65 and older 2.8 1.0 2.2
 Occupational group 2006

Occupational gp males Fem % male % female

ales
Prof, Sen offic, Tech 87000 125100 41.02 58.98
Clerks 23700 72200 24.71 75.29

Service & sales 82600 153800 34.94 65.06

Skilled Agri & fisheries 160900 37500 81.10 18.90

Craft % retail trade 169600 21100 88.94 11.06
Plant& machine 66000 7300 90.04 9.96
operators and assemblers

Elementary occupations 95500 121900 43.93 56.07

 The rural-urban-drift
• Stigma attached to agriculture
• Low wages
• Unavailability of land
• Lack of credit
• Vulnerability to natural disasters
• Poor living conditions and general infrastructure
• Entertainment
• Social mobility
 Reasons for high youth
unemployment in the Caribbean
• Weak aggregate demand for labour
• Inappropriateness of education and training
• Relative inexperience
• Absence of well functioning vocational guidance
and placement facilities
• attitudes of young people and their aspirations
concerning work
• New labour market developments-globalization
 Theoretical approaches
• Cyclical Theory –change in aggregate
demand and the business cycle
– School-leaver hypothesis-
• Structural Theory –underlying social and
economic structure
 Educational Upgrading of the
Jamaican Labour Force 1991-1998

percent
with 4+
years of
secondary
education
Levels of Unemployment by Education
for Jamaican Youth, April 1998.
 Growth and Contraction by
Economic Sector, 1991-1998.
Sectors which gained Sectors which lost jobs
jobs
Hotels, restaurants and Agriculture
recreation
Social and Community Textile Manufacturing
Construction
Transport Other Manufacturing
Financial and Business
Personal Services Public Administration
Utilities
Occupations of the Employed Labour
Force, 1998.
Changes in Percent Self-Employed for
Occupational Groups, 1991-1998
 Educational Upgrading by Size
of Firm,1995-1998
Percent
with
4+ years

of
secc.ed