LABOUR Minister Keith Bell.
By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
LABOUR Minister Keith Bell said the Department of Labour is researching why the labour force has decreased by thousands compared to 2019.
The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) released the latest labour force survey last week, revealing the unemployment rate to be 8.8 per cent, the lowest in 15 years.
East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson, however, was quick to note that the labour force has shrunk. He dismissed the unemployment rate as a “smokescreen” that masks the “significant” reduction in working Bahamians.
The latest survey found there were 219,465 members of the labour force. The previous report in May 2019 saw a labour force size of 237,525 people.
Mr Bell accused Mr Thompson of trying to deceive people.
“The fact of the matter is you have to look at the overall number, and when you get the overall number you’re talking about –– it is out of 100,” he said. “Even if that number was 20, we’re talking about 200,000 people, and I would submit on the contrary to what the honourable member of parliament had to say, the reality is that it is even that much more significant because we went through a pandemic and we went through a hurricane.”
“And so you had a number of persons because of the actions of the former administration leaving the country or were displaced. And so the fact that you’re going to have an unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent, it is even more significant because in this short period of time, this administration, this Davis-led administration, has been able to lower the unemployment rate. And so you have to look at the overall number, and you have to then take into account how many persons have been employed.”
“You cannot say because 227,000 persons may have been employed in 2019, today, it’s 220,000 or 200,000 and therefore, it does not paint a true reflection of those numbers. The fact that matters is 200,000 people employed, whatever the number is.”
He continued: “There is always a concern and what is unfortunate is that the former administration did not do no analysis –– they did not research. They didn’t do anything to determine what was going on and that is why we’re in this predicament today. But this administration, this ministry, the Department of Labour, is undertaking a research to determine what went on.”
Comments
stillwaters 10 months, 3 weeks ago
A whole lot of people..... accounted for and unaccounted for....died during Dorian. Another lot people died from covid. Another while lot of non covid people were dropping like flies due to being unable to get proper care during the pandemic. NOW you're going to pay somebody big money to tell you this.
LastManStanding 10 months, 3 weeks ago
I'm just spitballing but I think that COVID pushed a good bit of the older workers into retirement, know of a couple such cases personally. That + emigration of young workers would be my guess as to where the drop came from.
ThisIsOurs 10 months, 3 weeks ago
I find the discussion in parliament mind boggling. They're trying to tell me that tens of thousands of people left the country for jobs elsewhere, meaning they had to apply for visas, and leave on a one way flight, and Immigration doesnt have a clue?
Dawes 10 months, 3 weeks ago
They don't have a clue, nor do statistics etc. When have you last seen numbers that had sufficient support to see how they arrived at their announcements. On this they saw that unemployment was down to 8.8% and immediately ran out to brag about how many new jobs they created. Now they realize that there is a potential other reason for, which they should have considered before it all came out.
LastManStanding 10 months, 3 weeks ago
To be fair, I don't think emigration was the sole source of the drop but I can guarantee you that it did play a part. There are literally thousands of Bahamians overseas at this point, and more are leaving every year. Some go to the United States, but most are going to Canada because the immigration process is a lot easier and the schooling is cheaper (even moreso with the conversion rate) with a clear path to permanent residency once you finish. I can see a few thousand Bahamians leaving to go live overseas in a matter of a few years between the surveys which would make up part of the number. Obviously there are things like retirements to consider as well.
Tbh we have no idea how accurate these numbers are either, we all know that statistics collection is not a strong point of the government here.
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