Guyana has halved its unemployment rate over the past five years, according to government labour data covering the period to the fourth quarter of 2025. The rate fell from 12.8% in early 2020 to 6.2% by the end of last year, a decline officials attribute to sustained economic growth following the start of oil production.

The scale of job creation underpinning that fall is substantial. More than 156,000 people have entered the workforce since 2020, taking total employment past 421,000. The figures place Guyana among the fastest-growing labour markets in the region over the period measured.

The latest Mid-Year Report shows the total labour force has expanded by 47.8% since the first quarter of 2020. Labour force participation, the proportion of the working-age population either employed or actively seeking work, has climbed from 50.4% to 59.2% over the same period. The employment-to-population ratio for those aged 15 and older has risen in step, reflecting a workforce that has grown both in size and in the share of people actually working.

Sectoral data point to the private sector as the primary source of new employment. It now accounts for roughly 60% of the employed population, equivalent to more than 254,000 workers. The public sector employs 25.5% of the workforce, while the not-for-profit sector accounts for 14.1%. The balance between these three groups has shifted little in proportional terms even as the overall labour market has grown, suggesting the expansion has been absorbed largely by private enterprise rather than by government hiring.

A breakdown by industry shows the job growth has not been confined to a single sector. Wholesale and retail trade is the largest employer among individual industries, accounting for 14.7% of jobs. Construction follows at 12.5%, public administration and defence at 10%, agriculture, forestry and fishing at 9.8%, and manufacturing at 8.7%. Together these five industries account for more than half of total employment.

Economists tracking Guyana's labour market have noted that this spread across industries marks a departure from concerns raised earlier in the country's development, when the rapid growth of the oil and gas sector prompted questions about whether other parts of the economy would keep pace. The data suggest employment gains have instead been distributed across both established industries, such as agriculture, and sectors tied more directly to the current phase of national development.

Construction's position among the top employers corresponds closely with the infrastructure programme accompanying Guyana's wider economic expansion. Road building, housing schemes and public works projects have all expanded over the period covered by the report, and the employment figures in that sector track that activity closely, with hiring in construction firms rising in step with the announcement of successive government contracts.

The public administration figure of 10% also reflects the wider demands placed on state institutions as the economy has grown. New regulatory bodies, expanded revenue collection functions and additional public services have all required staffing increases, even as the public sector's overall share of employment has held broadly steady in percentage terms.

Manufacturing's presence among the top five, at 8.7%, is notable given that the sector had grown only modestly in the years immediately preceding the period covered by the report. Officials point to processing industries linked to agriculture and construction materials as contributors to that growth, though the report does not break the figure down further by sub-sector.

Taken together, the statistics describe a labour market in which nine out of ten people participating in the workforce are now in employment. Unemployment at 6.2% remains low by regional standards, and the pace of job creation over the past five years has outstripped population growth in Guyana by a wide margin.

The next comprehensive assessment of these trends is expected with the Labour Force Survey scheduled for the final quarter of 2026, which will indicate whether the current rate of j

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