Above: Port of Spain, Trinidad
By the Caribbean Journal staff
The unemployment rate in Trinidad and Tobago rose to 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012, according to data released this week from Trinidad’s Central Statistical Office.
That represented a rise from a 4.2 percent unemployment rate in the country at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011.
There were a total of 623,500 persons in the labour force in the first quarter, which was an increase of 0.3 percent from the last quarter of 2011.
The number of women in the labour force also rose, up 2.5 percent in the same period.
There were 260,900 women in the labour force at the end of the first quarter.
Male employment fell by 4,700 persons in the same period.
According to the CSO, sectors that saw gains in employment included petroleum and gas, community, social and personal services and the retail trade, restaurant and hotel sector.
