Bermuda’s unemployment rate among people under the age of 25 plummeted in the second half last year, with the rate for 16 to 24-year-old dropping by 18.4 percent to 7.8 percent between May and November in 2018.
According to the latest figures contained in the most recent Labour Force Survey (LFS) Report by the Department of Statistics, the decline was part of the wider fall in unemployment, which decreased from 5.2 percent to 4.5 percent.
Wayne Furbert, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, released the most recent report on Friday (July 12), which also showed that the number of unemployed Bermudians fell from 1,532 to 1,345, 5.5 percent to 4.8 percent, over the same period.
The figures show that unemployment among non-Bermudians, including spouses of Bermudians and permanent resident’s certificate holders, also dropped from 384 to 297 by 4.4 percent to 3.3 percent.
The figures also showed that unemployment rates for Black Bermudians fell from 7.1 percent in May 2018 to 5.2 percent in November.
On the flip side, the rate dipped from 2.8 percent to 2.7 percent for white people and there was an unemployment rate increase from 4.3 percent to 4.7 percent for “mixed/other races”.
The report said: “The primary objective of the LFS was to measure and assess the current employment and unemployment situation in Bermuda.
“The LFS is a household survey of private dwelling units with a sample of 1,500 households.
“It was determined that a sample size of 1,500 households would be adequate to give the desired level of accuracy and precision.
“The sample represents approximately 5 percent of all 28,192 households counted in the 2016 Population and Housing Census in Bermuda,” the report added.
The sample offered aggregate results with a confidence level of 95 percent and a 2.5 percent margin of error either way.
Ultimately, it showed that the labour force, which is people who were 16 or older at the time of the survey who were either employed or looking for work, rose by 0.5 percent from 36,541 to 36,725.
The working population, which included people temporarily absent from their jobs, also went up from 34,625 to 35,083, an increase of 1.3 percent.
But the report said that more than 5,200 people – or 15 percent of Bermuda’s working population was underemployed in November last year, including individuals who were employed at the time of the survey, who were willing and available to work “more adequately”, for increased or more convenient hours, using different skills or qualifications or for bigger pay packets.
Average working hours also fell by one from 40.7 to 39.7 and the median gross annual income from a main job decreased 0.8 percent from $63,227 to $62,695 over same period.
The survey also said that the “economically inactive population” dropped 0.6 percent from 17,400 to 17,293, while the number of retired people increased from 9,431 to 9,905 over a six-month period.
The Minister also said that the report contained selected indicators which were compared to the May 2018 Labour Force Survey Report and the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.
