Regional employment rate improves

Barbados is not the only country in the region recording higher employment.

The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Labour Overview 2025 for Latin America and the Caribbean, pubished on December 11, reported that the unemployment rate hs continued to decline and was about six per cent in the first half of the year.

This is one of the lowest in the past 15 years. Barbados’ unemployment rate, as reported by the Barbados Statistical Service, was 6.1 per cent at the end of June.

The ILO said the region unemployment rate suggested that “the number of people actively working or looking for work has remained stable compared to the previous year, and that more people managed to enter the labour market”.

While unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean “holds steady”, the ILO said that concern about informality and inequality was persisting.

The ILO publication said that in the first half of 2025 the average labour force participation rate in the region remained close to 63 per cent, while the employment rate reached nearly 60 per cent. It also reported that informality remains a defining feature of the region’s labour landscape. While it declined slightly to 46.7 per cent in the first half of 2025, nearly one in every two employed persons still works under informal conditions, the ILO said.

Ana Virginia Moreira Gomes, ILO regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said, “The region cannot be content with averages that seem positive. We need active policies that promote decent work, equality and protection. The ILO remains committed to supporting countries on this path, especially in a world of work that is evolving rapidly.”

Concerns in the report included “persistent gaps affect women and young people in particular”.

The ILO noted that although women’s labour market performance has improved more than men’s in recent years, it still lags behind.

The male labour force participation and employment rates are both 22 percentage points higher than those of women. Women’s unemployment rate is two percentage points higher than men’s, it said.

Youth – those aged 15 to 24 – face an unemployment rate nearly three times higher than that of adults. Informality affects 56 per cent of young workers, compared to 43 per cent of adults.

“Behind these statistics are millions of real-life stories. Each percentage point reflects people working, seeking jobs or excluded from the labour market. Access to decent work impacts not only income, but also health, education, wellbeing, and development opportunities across society,” the ILO said.

It stressed that recovery in the regional labour market “must go beyond numbers, with a focus on formalisation and decent work as the cornerstone of a sustainable development that ensures social justice”.

The ILO said its report “also highlights wide disparities across countries, as well as by gender, age, and economic sector. Women and youth continue to be the most affected by informality, unemployment and precarious work”.

Gerson Martínez, labour economist and lead author of the report, said that while some indicators are improving, “data reveal significant disparities across countries and population groups”.

Martinez saw merit in new forms of work having “updated policies and regulatory frameworks”.

(SC/PR)

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