by William Ysaguirre

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Dec. 12, 2024

Belize’s unemployment rate has fallen to almost half of what it was a year ago, from 3.9 percent in 2023 to 2.1 percent in September this year, the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) reported on Wednesday, December 11. This happened because 1,711 persons found jobs over the past year, while another 1,444 persons left the workforce due to retirement, death or other reasons, thus reducing the “unemployed” population by 3,155 persons.

To understand what this means, we must first understand that this 2.1 percent is based on a labor force that the SIB counts as 166,206 persons of a population of 397,483 people living in Belize, according to the last SIB census of 2022. More recent numbers from the World Health Organization, estimate  Belize’s  population at 411,106, while other sources estimate that the number may be closer to 419,600 people. Only 56.3 percent of persons in the country who are of working age are considered a part of the labor force. This was a little higher last year at 57.2 percent of the working age population

The SIB “labor force” does not include 129,007 persons who are of working age, but whom the SIB does not classify as part of the labor force. These people constitute 43.2 percent of the working age population, but the SIB does not count them as part of the workforce when calculating its unemployment rate.

Within the 14-24 years age group, only 44.1 percent are a part of the labor force; the other 55.9 percent may be in school or not seeking work. In the group over 25 years of age, 75 percent are in the labor force. Within this working population, the men tend to outnumber the women by 50 percent or more.

Among those of working age who are not considered part of the labor force, there are those who are designated by the SIB as persons who are not actively seeking employment or are not available to work. This may be for any number of reasons; they may be in school, they may be retired, or they are housewives who are caring for households without pay. Others may have been discouraged from looking for a job. Within this group, only 18.9 percent are between the ages of 25 and 54 years. Another 40.9 percent are between the ages of 14-24 years, and another 40.3 percent are over 55 years of age.