The Dominican Republic reduces informal employment to 53.4%, its lowest level
The Dominican labor market continues to show positive signs, according to official data. Between January and March 2025, the economy added 176,581 net new jobs and reached historic highs in both employment and formal employment, according to the preliminary results of the National Continuous Labor Force Survey (ENCFT), released by the Central Bank .
According to the report, the total number of employed people (formal and informal) stood at 5,117,548 in the first quarter of the year. This brought the employment rate to 62.8 % , the highest level since this indicator began to be measured.
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The increase in employment was driven mainly by the formal sector .
In one year, the number of workers with access to social security increased by 188,658, while the number of informal workers decreased by 12,077 . As a result, the informal employment rate fell to 53.4%, its lowest point since the beginning of the statistical series.
There was also a slight decrease in open unemployment , which fell from 5.1% in the first quarter of 2024 to 4.9% in the same period of 2025. This category includes those who are unemployed and actively seeking work.
Meanwhile, the SU3 labor underutilization rate —which includes those available but not looking for work, in addition to the openly unemployed— fell to 9.3% , down from 10.9% in the same quarter last year.
The overall participation rate (the proportion of working-age people active in the labor market) also reached a record high , reaching 66% , an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the previous year, according to official data.
With these results, the Central Bank highlights a strengthening of formal employment and a sustained reduction in informal employment, amid a situation that continues to challenge the region's economies.
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