By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
More than one-third of the poorest Bahamians fail to complete secondary education, helping to create what a former Cabinet minister yesterday described as a “stubbornly high” youth unemployment rate that must be reduced urgently .
James Smith, ex-state finance minister, told Tribune Business that the high jobless rate among Bahamians aged between 15-24 years-old, which hit 31 per cent in November 2014, was “structural” in nature.
He said the high rate epitomised the large gap between jobs that were available and the skill sets required by employers, with many young Bahamians not equipped to meet these requirements.
Apart from the “social fallout” caused by high youth unemployment, the former Central Bank governor warned that it also held back economic growth, because unemployed persons lacked the incomes to give them spending power.
The consequences are spelled out in a recent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report obtained by Tribune Business, which identified high unemployment among young Bahamians, and resulting poverty and social inequality, as key factors behind the high crime levels.
The IDB report, on a proposed ‘Citizen Security and Justice Programme’, found that 35 per cent of 20-24 year-old Bahamians drawn from the poorest segment of society had failed to complete secondary school, compared to just 6 per cent of the rest of the population in the same age group.
Highlighting the startling inequalities in Bahamian society, the IDB report said: “The fact that most students complete secondary education but only half of them graduate (pass a final examination) is a worrying indicator of poor system performance.
“Available data shows that 35 per cent of 20-24 year olds from the poorest decile have not completed secondary education, compared to 6 per cent of the rest of the population of that age.”
While unemployment in the 15-24 year-old age group was slightly down in November 2014 compared to the 32.3 per cent peak hit in 2013, the IDB report left no doubt as to the consequences for Bahamian society.
“Research and evidence, show that a wide variety of risk factors contribute to the prevalence of youth violence, one of them being lack of attachment to school and the workplace during adolescence and adulthood,” its report said.
“In the Bahamas, youth unemployment has doubled from 14.9 per cent in 2001 to 32.3 per cent in 2013 for job seekers aged 15 to 24)”, a rate double that of the overall nation’s.
“Further analysis within the 15-24 age group shows that unemployment is particularly high among 15-19 year-olds seeking jobs (42 per cent versus 24 per cent for those 20-24),” the IDB added, highlighting the problems secondary school leavers face in finding immediate employment.
“Searching for jobs can be a discouraging process given that more than 50 per cent of youth remain unemployed for more than a year,” the Bank’s report said. “Idle young people (not in employment, education, or training) are particularly vulnerable to continued labour detachment, which may contribute to violent or anti-social behaviour.
“The employability of youth hinges critically on the level of education and skills attained to match demands from employers. Even though most students complete secondary education, only half of them actually graduate.
“Although there are not available measures of skill levels of unemployed youth, most employers report difficulties in recruiting job candidates because of insufficient specific skills (66 per cent), soft skills (24 per cent) and numeracy skills (12 per cent).”
Responding to the Department of Statistics’ Labour Force Survey, Mr Smith described youth unemployment as “stubbornly high” and “an area that really needs to be addressed”.
He identified the cause as “the gap between available jobs and the skill sets to meet those jobs”, and said: “Jobs being advertised are calling for skills a lot of young people don’t have, plus experience, because a lot of them have never worked before.
“The quick solution to that is really to identify and train the people, if they can, to reach the level of aptitude for jobs that is required.”
Besides the social impact, Mr Smith told Tribune Business: “It’s a restraint to economic growth. Young people joining the labour force at a sufficiently large rate, that keeps an economy going.
“I’m optimistic that over time most of these things will work themselves out.”
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), too, in a statement issued yesterday called for “more emphasis” to be placed on training and skills development in the Bahamian workforce.
“In the excessively fast pace world in which the Bahamas competes, things are moving at the speed of light and if individuals do not take the time to tool and retool themselves, they will get left behind,” the BCCEC said.
“Businesses are looking for people with drive and ambition who are able to produce quality work at an accelerated pace. Loyalty in the workplace experienced in years gone by is a thing of the past, and individuals who are high achievers are always looking for something that is more challenging and more gratifying.
“Therefore, it is also important for private sector businesses and the public service to be on the cutting edge of innovation and technology to ensure that they are also keeping pace with new developments and that they are able to attract quality employees in their businesses.”
The BCCEC added that industrial peace would also aid hiring, and called on employers and trade unions to negotiate reasonable settlements to outstanding issues.
Describing the Bahamian economy as “very fragile”, the Chamber said: “Trade unions, particularly in this environment, should remain cognisant of the vulnerability of workers and should ensure that their members remain employed through balanced demands tied with worker performance and the financial position of employers.
“Employee benefits will come, but the first rule should be that of survival in this current economic environment.”
Comments
TheMadHatter 9 years, 8 months ago
No - all they have to do is keep going to church every Sunday and on Wednesday nights and give whatever they can find to the pastors, and they will be fine.
It's been working well all these years. The Bahamas is moving up! up! up! Yaaaahhh!!! Support the pastors !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's build MORE churches !!!!! We don't need no schools.
LOL
TheMadHatter
banker 9 years, 8 months ago
Mr. Smith is talking out of both side of his mouth. In one breath, he says that the problems are structurally, and then he says the problems will work themselves out.
If a problem is structural, it will not work itself out . Structural means that the system is at fault. Nothing will cure the system except a huge paradigm shift that will alter the structure to create enough jobs so that things will change.
Where will that change come from? It will not happen by itself. The current government has tunnel vision from having its head buried in its distal orifice of its alimentary canal, and James Smith is but a poor apologist for the PLP having once ineffectively served as junior Finance Minister.
The single largest demographic segment of the Bahamian population are the young people, and the monolithic economy is moribund. It must be growing to absorb the influx of young people entering the workforce, and it is not. On top of that, the school leavers entering the workforce do not have the skills to be valuable workers. Again, I would challenge Mr. Smith to elucidate on the mechanism of how these structural deficiencies will "work themselves out".
It is impossible to provide remedial education to the thousands of people out there looking for work. If one were to magically entice an industry to move to the Bahamas (one that doesn't need a reliable source of electrical energy and cheap imports of raw materials -- if an industry such as this exists), then there still would be the problem of an ineffectual workforce.
It doesn't take brains to see that the educational system turns out strong backs and weak minds, fit only for carrying bags or washing floors, but even Baha Mar will not put a dent into the numbers of unemployed youth.
If Mr. Smith is the best we have as an economic pundit and advisor, then God help us all. His optimism is irrational and unwarranted, and as usual, real solutions are few and far between. His government doesn't have the reproductive glands or the brains to fix the problem.
mossdehav 9 years, 8 months ago
I too agree that this current problem will not work it self out and that Mr. Smith has starkly contradicted himself.
It will take leaders who firstly, have the vision and then the will to carry it out. Regrettably, I am not convinced that our current pool is up to the task.
duppyVAT 9 years, 8 months ago
Why is there a 35% non graduation rate in The Bahamas?????? We spend more on teachers and education facilities (about 17% of the Budget) than many developed countries ..... but there is a disconnect between the home, the school calendar, the curriculum and the external examinations (BJC/BGCSE). We have unrealistic expectations for our school system......... worse still we want to compare our school system with the best (Finland, S. Korea and Singapore). The US is 29th in the world and we are not even on the radar ............... SMT
duppyVAT 9 years, 8 months ago
SUGGESTION: Do GLAT in Grade 5 and do BJC in Grade 8. Let students' BJC results determine whether a child is academic or technical oriented ......... create academic or technical high schools (GRADES 9-12)and then that will solve the manpower/skills problem.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 8 months ago
Smith has proven over the years to be a "yes massa" man no what the PM asks of him. He is certainly no bright spark when it comes to economics and is known to be "owned" lock stock and barrel by that Greek newspaper owner who is constantly sticking it to Christie where it hurts most as Freddy Boy well knows. Christie is now just too dam_n stupid (probably from the failing of his faculties with age) to appreciate where Smith himself considers his bread to be buttered.
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