Guyana Reports 156,000 New Jobs Unemployment Falls To 6.2 Percent

(MENAFN- Caribbean News Global) GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Guyana's labour force grew between 2020 and 2025, while unemployment fell sharply, as the country's rapidly expanding economy brought more people into work.

The labour force is up 47.8 percent from the first quarter of 2020, according to figures from the Bureau of Statistics published in the government's 2026 Mid-Year Report.

Over the same period, the unemployment rate fell to 6.2 per cent from 12.8 percent, while the labour force participation rate increased to 59.2 percent from 50.4 percent.

“Guyana's labour market strengthened between 2020 and 2025, as the labour force expanded and participation increased,” the report said, stating that,“By the fourth quarter of 2025, nine out of every 10 persons in the labour force were employed, while the unemployment rate had fallen to 6.2 percent.”

Employment also rose substantially. The number of employed people reached 421,334 in the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 156,472 from 264,862 recorded in the first quarter of 2020.

The employment-to-population ratio for people aged 15 and older climbed to 55.5 percent, from 43.9 percent over the same period. It stood at 52.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The private sector remained the country's largest source of employment. About 254,649 people, or 60.4 percent of those employed, worked in the private sector in the fourth quarter of 2025. The public sector employed 107,266 people, or 25.5 percent, while 59,419, or 14.1 percent, worked in the not-for-profit sector.

Wholesale and retail trade was the largest of the five leading industries identified in the report, accounting for 14.7 percent of employment. Construction accounted for 12.5 percent, followed by public administration and defence at 10 percent, agriculture, forestry and fishing at 9.8 per cent, and manufacturing at 8.7 percent.

Construction's share reflects the extensive infrastructure development accompanying Guyana's economic expansion. But the figures also show employment spread across a broad range of industries, rather than concentrated in a single sector.

The latest data underscore the scale of the shift in Guyana's labour market: more than 145,000 people joined the labour force over the five years, while more than 156,000 additional people were employed, and the unemployment rate was cut by more than half.

The government said the next Labour Force Survey is planned for the final quarter of 2026.

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