WILLEMSTAD - Unemployment in Curaçao fell from just over nineteen percent to just over thirteen percent between 2020 and 2022. Youth unemployment fell even more, from over 42 percent in 2020 to almost thirty percent in 2022, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports. CBS conducted research among households to measure the most recent developments in the labor market.
According to CBS, the decrease in unemployment is due to an increase in the total number of people who can work. In absolute numbers, there is a decrease of 3,407 job seekers. Between 2020 and 2022/2023, the total number of young people in the age group of fifteen to 24 has decreased by almost fifteen hundred young people.
CBS notes that labor participation is measured from the age of 15 and that many young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are still in school or taking a course, but are looking for a part-time job. They are considered unemployed if they are actively looking for work and can start working within 2 weeks.
Workers
The total number of people at work has increased from 57 thousand in 2020 to almost 67 thousand in 2022, an increase of more than 9,500.
There is also a decrease in the total number of people actively looking for work. This number has dropped from thirteen thousand in 2020 to ten thousand people in 2022.
According to the international definition that CBS uses to compare figures from Curaçao with other countries, someone can only be qualified as a job seeker if he/she is actively looking and can start working within two weeks if he/she finds a job.
Labor force
The active labor force in Curaçao, defined as the total number of people in work together with those looking for work, has increased from over 70,000 in 2020 to almost 77,000 in 2022.
This means an increase of more than seven thousand. This is due to an increase in the total number of people employed and a decrease in the total number of unemployed. The fall in unemployment is likely due to the fact that a number of people who were not previously active in the labor market have started working between 2020 and 2022.
Declaration
At the beginning of May, CBS will publish a report with explanatory analysis of the development of the decrease in the unemployment rate.