The Tribune

AFTER years of no statistics over how many people were unemployed, we have good news.

After Hurricane Dorian and then COVID-19, there was a hole in our statistics. The number of people who were unemployed, particularly in the COVID lockdown period, is a matter of guesswork.

So to hear that we have an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent, the lowest in 15 years, is a matter to be celebrated.

It is also something of a surprise. While there has been a resurgence in employment with the reopening of many tourist destinations, some still await their full reopening. If our figures are correct, then those further openings can only lead to more good news.

There are some questions, however, as have been raised by former Minister of State for Finance Kwasi Thompson.

While we would disagree that these figures are not a cause to celebrate – they are, they represent many people in employment who may have been clinging on for survival through joblessness during COVID – he does raise a number of valid points.

He notes that the workforce has shrunk by about 18,000 – down from 237,525 in the last survey to 219,465. This comes despite the population overall being up – in April, The Tribune reported that the population had risen by 13.6 percent from 2010 to 2022.

He also noted that the number of employed Bahamians has also shrunk, by just over 14,000 people, from 214,890 to 200,175.

So we have a smaller workforce, a smaller number of people unemployed, a smaller number of people employed, and yet a rising population.

Robert Farquharson, the Labour Director, agrees that there needs to be further analysis to look at the cause of any possible disparity.

He said the differences may be down to fewer people seeking employment, or having left The Bahamas – though that wouldn’t match up with our population growth.

It may, as businessman Peter Goudie suggests, also be down to the number of people who have taken matters into their own hands and become part of the “informal economy”, becoming self-employed and self-sufficient during COVID.

Certainly, The Tribune has published many articles about people launching their own businesses during COVID, becoming entrepreneurs and finding ways to earn money on their own.

This does not have to mean anything sinister, or that we’re not being told the whole story – it does mean that we do not seem to have quite the whole story.

Finding out that whole story would be a good thing – it would tell us more about where we are, and about how we can best support those people who might be missing from the statistics.

Knowing the complete picture can only be of benefit – so we hope that further analysis Mr Farquharson suggests is carried out.

Perhaps there might even be greater cause for celebration.