From October 3 to 30, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) carried out the Labor Market Survey (EML), and, in the present investigation, a national unemployment rate of 11.3% was obtained, which, comparable to the data August 2019 (7.1%), shows the impact of the health crisis caused by Covid-19 on the Panamanian labor market with an increase of 4.2 percentage points.
The October 2021 Labor Marking Survey took up the face-to-face methodology that, for the last time, was used in August 2019 when the unprecedented experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic had not yet been experienced.
The indicator for October 2021 registered a decrease of 7.2 and 3.2 percentage points, in relation to the Telephone Labor Market surveys (EMLT), carried out in September 2020 and in June 2021, where rates of 18.5% and 14.5 were observed, respectively.
The EML refers to the population aged 15 and over in the Republic that, according to their activity status, is classified as: Economically Active Population (EAP) and Non-Economically Active Population (NEA). The results of the survey showed a significant decrease in the economic participation rate; which stood at 66.5%, in 2019, versus 60.4% in October 2021.
The unemployed population increased, in this study period, when 146,111 unemployed were registered, in 2019; while for the EML of 2021 there were 222,080 people in this condition and, for the first time in recent years, the unemployment rates between men and women did not show a significant difference; In other words, the phenomenon of unemployment due to the health crisis, due to COVID-19, has affected both sexes equally (11.0% for men and 11.8 for women).
In the analysis by age groups, the conditions of high unemployment rates persist in the youth population; which, for 2019, registered 15%, while in 2021 it was 21.3%, doubling the national unemployment rate.
The informality rate for 2021 is 47.6%, showing a slight increase of 2.7 percentage points compared to 2019, which stood at 44.9%.
