In the level of improvement registered by labor occupation in the Dominican Republic in the first quarter of this year, with respect to the same period of 2021, the sectors that made the greatest contribution were tourism, services, commerce and construction.
They were at the forefront, in a context where the part concerning health also eased.
The total number of employed people (including formal and informal) between January and March 2022 reached 4,640,113 workers. This is close to the level of employment that existed prior to the covid-19 pandemic, for an increase of 226,730 net employed persons with respect to the January-March 2021 quarter.
This is a growth of 5.1 %, according to the results of the Continuous National Labor Force Survey (ENCFT) of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic. Based on the arithmetic reflected in the research, the increase of 226,730 people (5.1 %) in the first three months of the current year (seen on a consolidated basis) in relation to the same period of 2021 had the following concentration: Hotels, bars and restaurants contributed 67,482 jobs, other services (67,209), commerce (47,502), construction (35,134), health and social assistance (25,417).
Public administration and defense contributed 11,959, industry (16,166), and education (6,496). Among all the above mentioned, they constitute 81.4 % of the total number of employed persons, according to the ENCFT. The study also shows an inter-annual decrease in workers in the transportation and communications (-40,532), agriculture and livestock (-7,556), electricity and water (-1,866), financial intermediation and insurance (-680) branches, which represent the remaining 18.6% of the jobs.
Regarding the analysis by occupational category, for the first quarter of 2022 there were inter-annual increases in the employed population in all groups except domestic service, where private employees (representing 38.0 % of total employment) lead with 167,758 new jobs in relation to the first quarter of 2021.
This is followed by employers or active partners (representing 3.7 %) with an increase of 36,667 jobs; state employees (representing 13.9 %) with an increase of 19,412 new workers; unpaid family workers (representing 1.7 %) with a growth of 7,132 jobs and self-employed workers (representing 38.1 %) with 5,988 additional employed persons.
As for domestic service (representing 4.7 %), there was a decrease of 10,228 jobs.
In detail, based on the results of the Central Bank survey, with respect to occupational groups, those that showed the greatest increases were service workers (88,312), mid-level technicians (78,581), office employees (59,734), operators and artisans (15,381), unskilled workers (7,268) and skilled farmers and ranchers (4,435), which represent 80.4% of the employed.
Managers and administrators, operators and drivers, and professionals and intellectuals, who constitute about 19.6% of the workers, registered a year-on-year decrease of 16,831, 7,765 and 2,386 employed, respectively.
The recovery in employment has been concentrated among women and young people, who were the most affected by the covid health crisis.
Female segment
The female population accounted for 73.2% of the 226,730 new jobs generated in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, equivalent to 165,950 jobs.
Men accounted for the remaining 26.2% (60,779 additional jobs).
As for young people, those between 25-39 years of age, showed the greatest inter-annual magnitude in the increase of employed persons for the first quarter of 2022, in the order of 146,605 more jobs, followed by the 15-24 age group, which registered an increase of 68,848 jobs. The 60 and over population presented an increase of 11,677 new jobs.
The improvement observed in the labor market since the third quarter of 2020 in terms of recovery of the total number of employed is a reflection of the resilience of the Dominican economy to face the adverse effects of the pandemic and the current international environment, characterized by the recent geopolitical conflicts and the global cost shock.
Thanks to the Dominican Republic’s resilience, the economy registered a 6.1% growth in the first quarter of 2022.
Individual view, according to types of activities
The employed population in the agriculture and livestock sector (between 2021 and March 2022) is 363,299 people, in industries 463,628, in electricity and water 71,260, in construction 399,812, in commerce 955,006 and in hotels, bars and restaurants 326,746.
Meanwhile, 334,522 people were employed in transportation and communications, 103,221 in financial intermediation, and 258,515 in public administration and defense.
According to figures from the Central Bank’s Continuous National Labor Force Survey, the number of people employed in education is 272,499, in health and social assistance 183,077 and “other services” 881,739.
88 %
Of the jobs generated in the economy during the period analyzed were in the 15 to 24 and 25 to 39 age brackets.
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