The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said he is optimistic that more Bahamians are being recalled to work ahead of the furlough period’s December 13 end.

Keith Bell, minister for labour and Immigration, speaking outside the Cabinet Office, said there were encouraging signs that employment is starting to rebound as the economy opens up post-COVID.

“There are a number of persons who are returning to work,” he added. “We are very optimistic with the way in which the numbers are going in terms of persons going back to work, both in the private sector and, of course, in the Government sector.

“When I speak of the government sector, I’m talking in terms of the COVID-19. We have had a number of government institutions that had to work the shift system, and we see now where the greater the population that is becoming more vaccinated, the more persons are actually going back to work. So we are quite happy and we are optimistic on how things are going.”

Mr Bell had previously estimated The Bahamas was enduring a 30 percent unemployment rate due to the pandemic’s economic fall-out.

The Government last week signalled that the COVID-19 emergency orders will end on November 12 and not be renewed. This will trigger, some 30 days later, an end to the furlough period for workers sent home by their employers due to COVID-19.

Thus the Employment Act’s section 28 (c), requiring employers to either recall or pay termination packages to workers some 90 days (13 weeks) after they have been sent home, will take effect once again on December 13.

The furlough period was always intended to end eventually, given that some workers will by have been at home for nearly 21 months due to COVID-19 come mid-December. Its cessation will thus give such employees closure and certainty, knowing that they will now either be recalled or handed termination packages.

However, while many workers will doubtless welcome receiving full severance pay after a long struggle to survive, they may also struggle to find new jobs in a shrunken economy with high unemployment. As for employers, many may struggle to finance the termination packages mandated by law, following the devastation inflicted on revenues, cash flow and profits by COVID-19.