Jamaica’s unemployment rate stood at 3.7 per cent in April, up from 3.3 per cent in April 2025, according to the latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) released on Tuesday by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).

This means that the employed labour force declined by 1.8 per cent in April 2026 relative to April 2025 as the fallout from Hurricane Melissa continues.

For the April 2026 survey, STATIN said it continued to deploy an abridged version of the standard LFS questionnaire in selected enumeration districts across the western parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Hanover, and Trelawny. These parishes continued to experience disruptions following the passage of Hurricane Melissa which made landfall on October 28 last year.