Employment rises in July, and so does unemployment

On August 22, 2026, NotiCel publishes the Department of Labor's July figures. Adjusted unemployment stood at 6.0 percent: it was 5.8 in June and 5.6 in July 2025. There are 75,000 unemployed. The labor force totals 1,245,000 people and the employed, 1,171,000. Unadjusted participation is 46 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment, 957,900. All of those magnitudes belong to the Department via NotiCel.

The headline holds both directions at once: employment rises, and so does unemployment. More people in the labor force can lift the rate even when more people are working. That reading is the outlet's, not a model by this magazine.

Other outlets, on other dates, publish employment with other figures. On August 21, El Nuevo Día, from ExpoCom, attributed to Governor Jenniffer González Colón a labor force of 1.2 million. On August 24, the same newspaper reproduced La Fortaleza with labor-force participation of 44.6 percent, the highest in 16 years. In June, La Fortaleza, on its own site, had put March employment at 1.1 million, the highest since 2008. July from Labor, ExpoCom's 1.2 million, and March's 1.1 million are not averaged. They are named.

The 957,900 nonfarm payroll jobs are not the same universe as the 1,171,000 employed in the household survey. NotiCel publishes them together and does not subtract them. Nor is the 6.0 percent used to declare a recession. On August 14, El Vocero covered the Economic Activity Index with another fight, among economists, over whether there is a recession. That is another note and another indicator.

What the Department did not put in this release is not invented: no breakdown by municipality, and no count of OE-2025-012 jobs inside the 1,171,000. The 5,069 jobs that La Fortaleza and the DDEC cite in other notes are another series. July is July. The source is NotiCel and the Department of Labor.

Source: NotiCel. https://noticel.com/ultima-hora/20260822/aumento-dramatico-en-el-numero-de-personas-trabajando-pero-crece-el-desempleo/