Retail tops Dominican labor market

Santo Domingo.- 58.4% of the Dominican labor market was concentrated during the first quarter of 2022 mainly in four sectors: retail (21.2%), other services (19.0%), industry and free zones (9.9%) and construction (8.3%). ), according to the National Continuous Labor Force Survey (ENCFT) carried out by the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.
Of the 1.4 million employed persons registered in this survey in the period from January to March of this year, both in the formal and informal sectors, 983,930 work in retail. The second sector that groups the activities to which 880,164 people are dedicated is “other services”, that is, companies of various sizes such as contact centers, MSMEs in the creative industry (digital services, design, culture, fashion), in addition to beauty salons and barbershops.
The industrial sector, which in this survey includes local manufacturing, manufacturing of free zones and mines, registered a total of 460,379 employed persons, while the people dedicated to construction registered a total of 383,331 employees during the analyzed period.
These numbers reflect that industry, commerce and services have become the main engine of employment.
The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Víctor -Ito- Bisonó, considers the public policies promoted by the Government of Luis Abinader to be correct, which are reflected in more investments from the private sector motivated by confidence in the economic recovery of the country.