Puerto Rico's unemployment rate was seven-tenths of a percentage point lower in June than May, bringing the rate to the lowest level since October 2008.
On the other hand, employment fell by 0.1%, according to the household survey data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
June's 13.1% unemployment rate was down from 15.5% in December.
In the same period the number employed is down 2%, according to the household survey.
Officially, the number of unemployed declined by 19.5% during that period.
"The key element is the safety valve of emigration," said Advantage Business Consulting President Vicente Filiciano. "There are fewer people working and fewer unemployed individuals because there is another group who probably is working in the continental U.S.A."
Feliciano also said employment is down because the commonwealth's government is losing employees through attrition. According to the BLS establishment survey all government employment was down by 58,780 to June from December 2013, a 4.7% decline.
The BLS establishment survey has shown private sector employment up year-over-year for several months and this is encouraging, Feliciano said.
