Unemployment at 11%

Wendy Benavides

Over nineteen thousand persons who lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 are still without work.  However, they are not all out seeking employment.  The Statistical Institute of Belize’s Labor Force Survey for April 2021 found more than twenty thousand persons or eleven percent of the labor force is unemployed.  The labor force consists of one hundred and eighty-one thousand Belizeans. Males account for more than sixty percent of the work force, while women continue to dominate the services and sales sector, according to S.I.B.

Wendy Benavides, Statistician II, SIB

“Both the employed and the unemployed make up the labor force. In April 2021, the employed persons were estimated at one hundred and sixty-one thousand four hundred and sixteen, which represents eighty-eight-point eight percent of the labor force. Unemployed persons made up eleven-point two percent of the labor force with about twenty thousand three hundred and eighteen persons. Within the employment population, there is a subgroup of persons who work less than thirty-five hours for week and are wanting and available to work additional hours. This subgroup is known as the unemployed and represents twenty-one-point one percent of the labor force.”