It is a level close to the total occupation observed prior to the pandemic, indicates the Labor Force Survey
In the labor market, 226,730 new net employees were generated in twelve months, placing the total number of employees in January-March 2022 at a level similar to the same quarter of 2019 (prior to the pandemic), reported the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD). ).
In a press document, the issuer indicated that the open unemployment rate (official unemployment indicator) is reduced by 1.6 percentage point (pp), going from 8.0% in January-March 2021 to 6.4% in January-March 2022 .
It indicated that the employment rate (TO), which represents the percentage of people of working age who are employed, exhibits a year-on-year increase of 2.6 percentage points.
When the institution analyzes the indicators of underutilization of the labor force, it calculates that the official unemployment rate, that is, the first indicator of underutilization (SU1), commonly known as the open unemployment rate or the percentage of unemployed who are actively looking for work, it stood at 6.4% in January-March 2022.
It had a reduction of 1.6 percentage points with respect to the level of 8.0% registered in the same period of the previous year.
The agency offered the data, with the interest of keeping economic agents and the general public duly informed.
The bank is responsible for conducting the Continuous National Survey of the Workforce (ENCFT). It is from this that it presents an analysis of the evolution of the main indicators related to the labor market up to the latest available data corresponding to the January-March 2022 quarter.
“This is positive news, since the unemployment rate is falling within the framework of a significant resumption of active job search work by people, as economic activity has been recovering,” he said.
The survey of the Continuous National Survey of the Workforce (ENCFT) corresponding to the period January-March 2022, which, like each quarter, is carried out under a sample framework of 8,480 selected homes throughout the national territory, showed that the total number of employed persons reached the 4,640,113 workers in the first quarter of the year.
It is a level close to the total employment observed prior to the pandemic, for an increase of 226,730 net employed persons compared to the January-March 2021 quarter, equivalent to a growth of 5.1%.
The generation of new jobs has been concentrated in women and young people, who were the most affected by the pandemic.
In year-on-year terms, 73.2% (165,950) of the aforementioned increase in employment corresponds to females. Likewise, the fact that of the increase of 226,730 net employed persons in twelve months, 68,848 (30.4%) corresponds to people aged between 15-24 years and 146,605 (64.7%) to new net employed persons within the age range of 25-39 years old.
“Consistent with the above, a growing behavior of the degree of insertion of people over 15 years of age in the labor market is observed, which can be seen through the global participation rate (TGP), defined as the quotient between the labor force or economically active population and people of working age,” the bank said.
He explained that the TGP stood at 63.5% during the first quarter of 2022, 1.8 percentage points higher than that verified in the same period of 2021.
Likewise, the employment rate (TO), which represents the percentage of people of working age who are employed, stood at 59.4% in January-March 2022, for a year-on-year increase of 2.6 percentage points. Both indicators reflect that the labor market continues to recover, after the impact of the health crisis.
When analyzing the increase of 226,730 employed from the perspective of the sector where they work, during the last year it is observed that those who work in the formal sector (private companies with a National Taxpayer Registry, organized accounting or in the State) increased by 105,913 additional net jobs.
Those who work in the informal sector (mostly self-employed workers) exhibited an increase of 131,045 workers. As for those employed in domestic service, they were reduced by 10,228 jobs.
Regarding the percentage of total informality in the economy, that is, the proportion of employed people who do not have access to social security benefits through their occupation, the institution said:
“It is pertinent to review what was stated by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in the document World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2022 in the sense that “informal workers were more likely to lose their jobs or to be forced to inactivity by measures such as confinements than formal workers.
He recalled that with the gradual resumption of economic activity, informal employment, especially self-employment, has rebounded strongly, and many workers in the informal sector have resumed activity”, a reality that has been more evident in the Latin American region and the Caribbean.
Informality seen through percentages
In the Dominican case, the percentage of informality (workers who are generating income but who do not have access to social security through the work activity they perform) was 58.1% in January-March 2022, for a slight increase significant 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year, being below the maximum value of 58.9% recorded by this indicator in the third quarter of 2021.
When making a balance in the analysis of the indicators, the BCRD concludes that the labor market presents a notable improvement and it is expected that it will continue to react positively, as the economy continues to grow around its potential and the various projects of both private and public investment, which have been announced thanks to the climate of confidence and the favorable prospects of the Dominican Republic compared to the average of Latin American countries.
