The island of Puerto Rico continues to be besieged by a high unemployment rate that remains at 16.6% as of June figures. This rate is higher than the national U.S. average of 9.5% which slowly is trending downward.
In Puerto Rico the rate remains high without any indication of improvement due to the island’s stagnant economic activity. As 217,000 islanders remain unemployed there are few jobs opportunities for them to seek. The unemployment rate on occasion has dipped negligibly downward experts believe when unemployed islanders leave and seek jobs on the mainland. There are several public works projects that will be bringing in new job opportunities shortly but not enough to substantially reduce the unemployment rate according to Puerto Rico’s employment administrators.
