The Dominican Republic’s economy generated a net increase of 176,581 employed individuals over the 12 months ending in March 2025, according to preliminary findings from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic’s (BCRD) Continuous National Workforce Survey (ENCFT).
The report, released by the BCRD as part of its commitment to transparency, highlights a positive trend in the nation’s labor market. Key indicators show record-high levels of employment and a decrease in joblessness. Notably, the informal employment rate reached its lowest point in the ENCFT series, registering at 53.4% of the employed population during the January-March 2025 period.
The unemployment rate also saw a slight decrease, settling at 4.9% in the first quarter of 2025, a 0.2 percentage point reduction compared to the same period last year.
The total number of employed individuals in the Dominican Republic, encompassing both formal and informal sectors, reached 5,117,548 in the first quarter of 2025. This represents the addition of 176,581 net new jobs compared to the first quarter of 2024. Consequently, the employment rate, defined as the proportion of the employed population to the working-age population, climbed to a record high of 62.8%, a 1.2 percentage point increase year-over-year.
An analysis of the 176,581 new jobs reveals that formal employment saw a significant increase of 188,658 individuals, while informal employment decreased by 12,077. This shift resulted in the aforementioned record-low informal employment rate of 53.4% for the first three months of 2025.
Regarding unemployment and underutilization of the workforce, indicators remain near their historical lows. The open unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of unemployed individuals actively seeking work as a proportion of the labor force, fell from 5.1% in January-March 2024 to 4.9% in the same period of 2025.
The broader underutilization rate (SU3), which includes both actively seeking unemployed individuals and those willing to work but not currently searching, also showed a significant decrease of 1.6 percentage points, dropping from 10.9% in the first quarter of 2024 to 9.3% in the corresponding period of 2025.
Furthermore, the labor force participation rate, measuring the proportion of the working-age population actively participating in the labor market, reached a record high of 66.0% in the first quarter of 2025. This represents a 1.1 percentage point increase compared to the same period in 2024, indicating a greater engagement of individuals aged 15 and over in the Dominican labor market.
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Central Bank
Diario Libre
19 May 2025