The country’s jobless rate at 7%: UN

Santo Domingo.- The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Thursday warns that sluggish economic growth could affect unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the urban unemployment rate has fallen from 6.4% in 2012 to 6.2% in 2013.

The report "Labor situation in Latin America and the Caribbean 2014," which forms part of the programs of conditional transfers and the labour market, reveals that urban unemployment in Dominican Republic rose from 6.5% to 7% between 2012 and 2013. It notes however that the deceleration in the search for employment continued, while the regional unemployment rate hasn’t increased during the first months this year.

The report, which presents data from 17 countries in the region, says that in most countries’ unemployment rate posted a slight drop, except Bahamas, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, where it increased.

ECLAC said that the further decline in unemployment isn’t due to a higher percentage of the working age population is employed, "but a higher percentage that is inactive, is left out of the labor market and not looking for work."