The Dominican Republic’s labor market continues to show positive momentum, with a notable increase of 121,164 jobs from April to June 2024, the Central Bank reports. This growth was driven by a significant surge in formal employment, which added 164,598 new workers, while the informal sector saw a reduction of 43,434 workers.
According to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic’s National Continuous Labor Force Survey, key indicators of employment, unemployment, and informality are all reflecting a healthy market. The country has reached all-time highs in both the number of employed people and the employment rate, while the unemployment and informality rates have fallen to some of their lowest points since the survey began.
The total number of people employed in the Dominican economy reached 5,123,548 in the second quarter of 2025. This 121,164-person increase from the same period in 2024 highlights a strong trend toward formalization. This shift is clearly seen in the informality rate, which dropped by 2.2 percentage points to 54.0%, down from 56.1% in the second quarter of 2024.
The report also provides insight into the demographics of the new workforce:
• Youth Employment: The majority of new jobs (82.5%) were filled by young people between the ages of 15 and 39.
• Education: A significant portion of the additional jobs—71.4%—went to individuals with a university education, totaling 86,532 workers.
• Gender: Men accounted for 78,440 of the new jobs, while women contributed 42,724.
The unemployment rate continued its downward trend, falling from 5.3% in the second quarter of 2024 to 5.0% in the same period of 2025. This rate has been steadily declining since the post-pandemic peak of 8.0% in early 2021, holding steady near its historical low.
Furthermore, the labor force participation rate—which measures the share of the working-age population that is employed or actively looking for work—hit a record high of 66.1%, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous year. This indicates a growing number of people are actively engaged in the job market, a positive sign for the economy’s future.
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Central Bank
27 August 2025