Trinidad and Tobago’s latest unemployment figures show a 0.5 per cent drop in the number of people looking for jobs.

The numbers, released last week in the Central Statistical Office (CSO) Labour Force Bulletin for the second quarter of 2011 (April to June), show that the nation’s unemployment rate, as at that period was 5.8 per cent, down from the last official figures of 6.3 per cent as at the fourth quarter of 2010.

The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force that is jobless but actively seeking work.

The CSO statistics also showed a drop in the country’s working population from 632,100 at the end of 2010 to 617,800 in the second quarter of 2011 — a 2.3 per cent decrease. The female labour force decreased by 5,900, to 254,000, while the Male Labour Force decreased from 372,200 to 363,800.

The age group experiencing the largest drop was the country’s youth. aged 20 to 24, with a decrease of 8.3 per cent.

And the 35-39 range showed the largest growth, registering at 4.5 per cent increase for that period.

The number of people with jobs was 581,900 — a 1.7 per cent decrease or 10,300 from the fourth quarter 2010.

Again, the biggest contributor to this decline was the 20-24 demographic, this time specifically males in that age group, with an 8.4 per cent decrease, or 3,700.

The type of workers for whom decreases in employment were noted, were ‘Government Public Service/Statutory Board’ (4,300 job losses), ‘Government state enterprise’ (200 job losses), ‘Non-Government’ (9,000 job losses) and ‘Learner/apprentice’ (1,100 job losses).

However, the type of worker for which increases in employment were noted were ‘Own account worker’ (7,800 jobs), ‘Employer’ (600 jobs), and ‘Unpaid workers’ (600 jobs), the bulletin stated