Hibapress
The unemployment rate reached 13.1% in the second quarter of 2024, according to the recent information note from the High Commission for Planning (HCP) relating to the situation of the labor market.
“The unemployment rate thus increased by 0.7 points between the second quarter of 2023 and that of 2024, going from 12.4% to 13.1%, from 16.3% to 16.7% in urban areas (+0.4 points) and from 5.7% to 6.7% in rural areas (+1 point)” specifies the HCP, noting that it also recorded an increase of 0.7 points among women and men, going from 17% to 17.7% and from 11% to 11.7% respectively.
According to the same source, the number of unemployed increased by 90,000 people between the second quarter of 2023 and that of 2024, going from 1,543,000 to 1,633,000 unemployed, which corresponds to an increase of 6% (+48,000 unemployed in urban areas and +42,000 in rural areas.
The HCP also reported that the unemployment rate increased by 2.5 points among young people aged 15 to 24, from 33.6% to 36.1%, by 1.6 points among people aged 25 to 34, from 19.8% to 21.4%, by 0.1 points among those aged 35 to 44, from 7.2% to 7.3%, and by 0.1 points for those aged 45 and over, from 3.6% to 3.7%.
For its part, the unemployment rate of graduates recorded an increase of 0.2 points, from 19.2% to 19.4%. This increase is more pronounced among holders of qualifying secondary education diplomas (+3.2 points), thus increasing to a rate of 26.1%).
Regarding the volume of employed workers in a situation of underemployment, it increased, between the second quarter of 2023 and that of 2024, from 983,000 to 1,042,000 people at the national level (from 549,000 to 552,000 people in urban areas and from 434,000 to 490,000 in rural areas).
The underemployment rate increased from 9% to 9.6% at the national level, from 8.4% to 8.3% in urban areas and from 9.9% to 11.6% in rural areas.
As for the volume of the employed population in a situation of underemployment in terms of number of hours worked, it increased from 465,000 to 583,000 people at the national level. The corresponding rate increased from 4.2% to 5.4%.
The employed working population in a situation of underemployment in terms of insufficient income or mismatch between training and employment has fallen from 518,000 to 459,000 people at the national level. The corresponding rate has fallen from 4.7% to 4.2%.
By sector of activity, the underemployment rate increased by 1.7 points in the construction sector (from 17.2% to 18.9%) and by 1.9 points in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (from 9.6% to 11.5%).
On the other hand, it experienced a drop of 0.3 points in the industrial sector including crafts (from 5.3% to 5%) and stagnated at 7.7% in the services sector.
