WASHINGTON: The rate of unemployment in Antigua & Barbuda has been recorded at 14.1 per cent, according to the country’s first ever Labour Force Survey, which was conducted in 2015. During the country’s last census, held in 2011, the unemployment rate was estimated at 10.1 percent.
The most recent statistics on unemployment were released, yesterday, when the Chief Statistician in the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry, Statchel Edwards presented the results of the survey during a press conference. According to Edwards, September 14 to 19, 2015 was used as the assessment period, during which the data was collected. “We followed the international standard to carry out the Labour Force Survey. Once you were working within the reference week, we asked the relevant questions during that period and subsequently used that same period to collect the data,” Edwards said.
Asked why the month of September in particular, since it’s a month that falls within the slow season, where some hotels close their doors, and there is not much of an economic buzz of activity during this time, Edwards said: “We chose September due to administrative challenges, and we also had to roll it out for 2015, and this time was identified as the best time to conduct the survey.
