By the end of 2023, the expanded unemployment ratewhich includes people who sought work but were not available, or who did not seek work but were available, stood at 10.7 %which represents a year-on-year reduction of 0.3 percentage points, according to the most recent report from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD), which highlights that more than 50% of active jobs were informal.
“This rate, despite presenting a gender gap more pronouncedshows a downward trend; reaching its lowest levels during the last three years (10.6%), 1.4 percentage points lower than those shown during the same period in 2022 (12%),” the document highlights.Monitoring the Employment: An Analysis for 2023″.
The MEPyD indicates that the purpose of the report is to carry out a concise and detailed analysis of the selected policy for the labor issue, thus providing a comprehensive view of the socioeconomic status.
According to the report, the open unemployment ratea variable measured by the ratio of open unemployment to the economically active population, stood at 5% in the fourth quarter of 2023, showing a year-on-year increase of 0.2 percentage points.
As for the percentage of unemployed, reports that it stood at 4.4%, for a total of 222,867 unemployed people who were actively seeking a new job. employment and only 0.9% of newly unemployed people aspire to have their first job.
The report, which collects information from the Laboral sector Of the last three years, it indicates that last year only 46,481 people of age to carry out some economic activity indicated having sought employment.
Characteristics of jobs in the Dominican Republic
The document, published on July 19, 2024, cites the results of the National Continuous Labor Force Survey (ENCFT) of the Central Bank, in which a total of 4,952,977 people were employed by 2023, representing an increase of 178,219 new jobs.
Compared to 2022, the number of jobs increased by 3.7%, exceeding the levels of unemployment brought about by the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the recovery of the sectors tourism, trade and other serviceswith 75.8% of the creation of new vacancies, that is, approximately 135,002 jobs.
- While the Public Administration and Defense, Electricity and Water, Education, Agriculture and Livestock sectors reported losses in their workforce, with a total of 55,348 jobs lost during that period.
In this regard, it is necessary to maintain a balance between the quality of jobswith an informality of 48.6%, that is, employed people without enjoying the rights acquired by workers such as health insurance, social security and labor benefits for unemploymentAnother proportion of 4.9% corresponds to domestic and related activities.
While 46.6% of those employed were working in formal companies who pay social security and other acquired benefits, highlights the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the MEPyD.
The persists gender gap in labor variables
Although women have gained ground in more demanding jobs, gender gap continued. Of the 4,952,977 people employed, 58.3% were male workers and 41.7% were female.
In general terms, it is 2,066,731 busy women and 2,886,246 men. As for new job openings, there were 88,008 women and 90,211 men.
