By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Nearly 50 per cent of Bahamians are struggling to "make ends meet", the Central Bank revealed yesterday, with monthly earnings "usually insufficient" to cover their living costs.
The regulator, unveiling an analysis of its Financial Literacy Survey 2018, exposed the extent of Bahamian society's personal financial struggles, with many living "above their means", too heavily indebted and struggling with reduced incomes in the post-recession environment.
The survey, conducted on 1,000 Bahamian adults by the Public Domain research firm, found that while many Bahamian households knew what to do for financial self-sufficiency they were finding it "challenging to execute their plans".
While the Central Bank concluded that The Bahamas was "not an outlier" on financial literacy when compared to other countries, the survey found that "only a third of respondents" were able to give answers to "more complex concepts" such as the compounding effect of interest rates and inflation's impact on purchasing power and living standards.
The regulator added that the survey's findings showed Bahamian households' awareness of financial products appeared "not to extend far beyond" traditional savings and loan facilities, and electronic payment solutions were "not widely understood or used" - a major obstacle to coping with the commercial banking closures of Family Island branches.
And the Central Bank said "most households were falling behind in their preparation for retirement", with 26 per cent of respondents planning to rely on their National Insurance Board (NIB) pension despite projections that the social security scheme's reserve fund will be exhausted come 2030 without fundamental reform.
However, the financial struggles of many Bahamians will likely catch the attention of policymakers, given the social and family discord that will result from almost half of society struggling to meet their regular living costs.
The Central Bank revealed: "Another notable result from the survey was the fact that when respondents were asked to reflect on the last 12 months, and indicate whether their income was generally sufficient to 'make ends meet' each month, 47 per cent stated that their earnings were usually insufficient to cover their living expenses."
Public Domain's research showed 41 per cent of male, and 52 per cent of female, respondents fell into this category. Broken down by age, "about half" of all persons aged between 16 to 54 years-old, and 39 per cent of those aged 55 and over, were struggling to cover their living expenses.
Those earnings less than $30,000 per year faced the most difficulty in meeting "all their financial demands", with 44 per cent of households in the medium income bracket of $30,000-$60,000 also reporting similar struggles. Even 35 per cent of those earning greater than $60,000 reported trouble in 'making ends meet'.
"When income was insufficient to cover household expenses, 40 per cent of respondents saw reducing spending as the solution to covering their expenditures, followed by working a second/third job (17 per cent), and borrowing money from family and friends (10 per cent). Each of the other means of coping [including payday lenders and numbers winnings] garnered less than 10 per cent of responses," the Central Bank said.
The analysis highlighted significant differences in financial behaviour based on income and gender. "Men showed higher numeracy competence, women displayed more financial resilience, and households of higher income were disposed to more positive behaviours," the Central Bank said.
When it came to their ability to withstand financial shocks, the Central Bank survey found 13 per cent of respondents had 'less than a month's' worth of savings, while another 15 per cent had coverage for between one to three months. This means more than one in four Bahamians has less than 90 days' worth of saving in an emergency.
"In terms of the amount of savings they had stored for a 'rainy day', the largest percentage of persons who responded (48 per cent) stated that they would be able to cover costs for more than six months if they lost their main income," the Central Bank said.
"A smaller group (16 per cent) indicated that their savings would cover three to six months of expenses. For 15 per cent the coverage was one to three months, and 13 per cent of individuals had less than a month's coverage.
"Taking six months as a comfortable mark, men and women were evenly matched with this question. However, not surprisingly, a higher proportion of older respondents appeared to have greater financial security than younger ones (56 per cent versus 36 per cent), and those with higher incomes were better off than lower income earners (59 per cent versus 37 per cent)."
The Central Bank said "it was not surprising" that the most common long-term financial goal among respondents, at 17 per cent, was debt consolidation "given the high level of arrears and non-performing loans in the banking system". This was followed by home ownership, at 13 per cent, and college tuition at 10 per cent.
"With regards to pension funds, the findings suggest that most households questioned were falling behind in their preparation for retirement," the Central Bank said. "Although 82 per cent had prior knowledge of pension funds, only 33 per cent actually contributed to one, and only 36 per cent were interested in learning more about them.
"A smaller percentage of persons surveyed cited retirement as an important financial goal (7 per cent). Not surprisingly, the share of respondents aged 55 years and over who stated this as important was higher at 13 per cent. Instead, most respondents indicated that they planned to fund their retirement either via their National Insurance Board pension (26 per cent) or from a workplace pension plan (25 per cent)."
The Central Bank survey found that 78 per cent of respondents thought about whether they could afford something before purchasing it, with 68 per cent "strongly agreeing" they paid their bills on time.
Some two-thirds, or 67 per cent of those surveyed, also disagreed with the statement that 'I tend to live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself'. "It appears that sentiments toward the satisfaction derived from spending now as opposed to saving for the long-term were mixed, with some respondents indicating that they preferred to spend now, while others preferred to save for the long-term," the Central Bank said.
"By gender, 47 per cent of males reported that they are more satisfied when they save money as opposed to spending it, while 25 per cent indicated that they are more satisfied spending now than saving for the long-term. In terms of women, a higher 51 per cent preferred to save for the long-term than spend money now, whereas 21 per cent saw the reverse as more satisfying."
Assessing the findings, the regulator added: "It appears that the Bahamas is neither an outlier nor a leader when it comes to the level of financial literacy within the global population. Selective comparison against the 2017 G-20/OECD results places this jurisdiction between the extremes that emerge across OECD members.
"That said, the promotion of increased literacy should remain a priority for the Bahamas. On literacy, skills involving numeracy and assessment against interest rates, and the effect of inflation on the cost of living, the results for the Bahamas rank below the best performing countries in the G-20.
"Overwhelmingly, the survey found that knowledge of financial products and concepts has not translated into the same level of positive changes in personal behaviour."
Roughly one-third of Bahamians showed they understood compounding interest rates and the impact of inflation on purchasing power, while just 14 per cent were able to work out the interest rate charged based on the dollar sum paid.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 6 months ago
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DDK 6 years, 6 months ago
If is isn't so, why don't they SAY SOMETHING? ANYTHING? It would appear that they feel if they don't address the issue, The People will forget the issue exists.....
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 6 months ago
When you work 40 hours a week for 300 bucks you will never be able to support yourself.
This is the real problem. This is what will ultimately take us down.
joeblow 6 years, 6 months ago
People generally end up where they are in life because of the decisions they make. Many fail to take advantage of the education they are given in high school. They take jobs that pay them for their lack of qualifications, then they have children and get loans for things that depreciate in value. People make a series of poor decisions that keep them entrapped in poverty. Its a mindset!!
realitycheck242 6 years, 6 months ago
These statistics are not surprising, we are a happy go, lucky go people who like to party, smoke, drink, Live like the jonese's and flim flam each other. Financial literacy is not thought in the public school system. The majority of Bahamians lack the discipline to pick up and read a book after leaving the school system, i wont mention doing online research to improve their personal financial knowledge. We go in the Banks for loans and max out our pay checks with salary deductions. We put our signature on what ever the Bank manager tells us to sign with out reading the fine print. We try to impress fake friends who 90% of the time we wont see or hair from if we get in dire straights. We want easy money to fall in our laps so we gamble with falls hope. Retirement planning is something we think the government should take care of. We need the latest cell phones, Name Brand this, Name brand that and we let our kids dictate the name brand they want to us.instead of teaching them the value of sacrifice, and we take out loans for vacation parties, and other pleasurable needs and then we seek to consolidate the loans when the depth gets to high and the cycle continues until we reach fifty and the bank say we cannot borrow anymore. Untill we dissipline our selves the percentage us who can't make ends meet will continue to rise.
DDK 6 years, 6 months ago
Many that do not fall into the above happy-go-lucky "Bahamian" category are struggling, non-the-less.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Bahamian generally want to earn big salaries with little qualifications ......... then create a lifestyle that is 200% of the value of their salary ....... then get loans and credit cards and asues to pay their bills on a "rob Peter to pay Paul" basis ....... That is the reality why we cannot make ends meet. .......... If you make $200 a week, you cannot go on a 2 week vacation to Vegas ..... Eat out at Atlantis restaurants every weekend ........... or afford a $400 per month car payment ....... or rent a $1,500 townhouse ......... IT IS THAT SIMPLE.
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 6 months ago
If you make $200.00 a week you cannot afford rent, or groceries, or electricity.
Doesn't matter what they do with their money. We still need a livable wage in this country. Government has to start reducing taxes so we can grow. And we need a better educational system. But whatever we need we better start now!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
OK .... Lets say $300-$400 ....... It will be the same result ........ There are people earning $500 a week and still living hand to mouth ..... because they set their hat higher than they can reach it.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Just saw in the Nassau Guardian, where retired police officers on contracts make $55,000 to $64,000 ......... Can you imagine that?????? ......... and the Government asking retired teachers to come back and be substitute teachers for $20.00 an hour for 20-30 hours a week ........ SMH.
bogart 6 years, 6 months ago
THESE FIGURES ARE NOTHING NEW,!!!!
The authorities have known this from countless statistical data. If yinna con figure out what Bahamians can afford in terms of paying for a under 30,000 piece of land amd 50% duty reduction on house then its obvious you can figure out what happenin......
Innvestigations are needed how so many Bahamian mortgage borrowers got loans the couldnt repay some 4,000 ....and they could not all be wrong....where banks and loan officers are found to be negligent...acting without due care and attention....they should be penalized like those in the US where wrong banking practices have been found..... Fairness and juustice should apply to the pore, disadvantaged, who dont get help and not only to the powerful an rich..,!! Right now beds needed for the pore in pmh...dey lookin to take away $2 follar can corn beef dat can feeds four people....right now pore Bahamians getting kicked oit of cheap rent in shantytown....2,500done get lay off .....BUT if yinna getting promotions done job before elections you gettin first chance to buy affotdable subsidized house...aint fair to da pore, tired masses yearning fer better...not bitter
TheMadHatter 6 years, 6 months ago
Bogart - if we Bahamians could get together and demand that the Queen finish giving us our independence by sharing up the so-called Crown Land among us - we could start to end our reliance on these vulture banks.
Free independent Bahamians? LOL But the Queen still gats ya land. Yinnah black hip pay mortgage!!!!
Jokes cant done.
truetruebahamian 6 years, 6 months ago
So what happens to the expectations of future generations? Crown land is a protective hedge for the future. Have less outside chirren and grow to achieve your wealth and dreams
TheMadHatter 6 years, 6 months ago
Resigning from politics today as we celebrate Haitian Flag Day and the fact that 50% of us cannot make ends meet.
Goodbye. It was a nice try.
But we failed. In 7 more years none of us will be able to make ends meet.
Our country is now ruled from abroad God help us all.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Ruled from abroad ........ OECD??????? Seven more years????? ............... sounds like the Pharaoh's dream.
John 6 years, 6 months ago
When Hubert Minnis was a young boy and played marbles , flies kite or spun top around in the area of his daddy’s gas station, half the boys he played with had on pants that had more patches than pants. Many were bare footed because they didn’t dare wear their church or school shoes in the ‘yard’ and they had nothing else to put on. And when the Hobby Horse race track was open many shops in the area did not see a customer from the track opened at10 am until the locals got back home after 5 pm. Even the numbers boys complained about how slow things were when the race track was open because everyone who bought numbers preferred to play the horses instead. And after losing most of their money at the tracks, which was often the case, many would return home to borrow a dollar or two or go ‘trust ‘ a 1/2 pound of sausage, a can of tomato paste, some rice an an onion from the neighborhood store. That would make supper for a family of five, while someone figured what the children would carry to school for lunch the next day. Even if it meant borrowing a dollar from the neighbor for the children to share. So making ends meet or not being able to make them meet is nothing new to Bahamians. The economic boom and false economy before the recession left many piling their hair (or weave) and trying to remember how they made it before then. The average Bahamian Home did not have electricity or running water, and cell phones, cable, internet and air conditioners did not exist. The average Bahamian did not own a car and they only caught the jitney when they were going downtown or to the race track in Cable Beach. And there were no fast foods and it wasn’t every day one could afford a chicken in the bag from Father Allen’s on Wulff Road or ‘Dirty’s’ what still on Nassau Street. Keats was a little more cheaper and they peeled the potatoes right there to make the fries. And since most homes had only one lamp of candle, everyone had to fall sleep before the lamp ‘get blow out’ or the candle burned itself out. And if someone had just died in the neighborhood you would try fall asleep before everyone else while fighting off mosquitoes and the uncomfortable summer heat.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
U gat it John ....... the island life equivalent was damn well harder than dat ..... But now with all the new bills of "modern living" brought on by BEC, BTC, Bahamasair, TV and American food tastes, we are all just working to pay bills ........ But many island people still don't trust banks, use their wells, use their lamps, grow their food, plait and make baskets, and catch the mailboat to Nassau .......... That will be the only hope of survival in the next 10-20 years
realitycheck242 6 years, 6 months ago
Boy JOHN...thats some reality stuff from back in the day. I was able to figure out your age range from that one paragraph. Take it easy senior citizen.
DDK 6 years, 6 months ago
What happened to Hobby Horse race track? Do you have any idea WHY it closed?
banker 6 years, 6 months ago
It burned down in February of 1958. It was rebuilt several years later, but fell on hard times. It was losing money and they wanted government subsidies that never happened, but the government still wanted high licence fees. There are stories of race horses starving to death after the closure.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
The bottom 40% of the society are the main webshop customers ............. rich people do not have to buy numbers ........... They already benefit off the backs of the rest of the population either as illicit dealers, bona fide business people, well-connected PEPs, or they have inherited 5-generation wealth ...... The middle 40% pay the majority of the taxes for the others ....... The top 20% enjoy the "Bahamian Dream" and help to drive the national debt up with entitlements.
realitycheck242 6 years, 6 months ago
The middle 40% you speak of have been reduced to 20% since the recession began in 2008. The bottom 40% have also expanded to 60% .....real talk.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Reality ....... ya gat facts on dat?????? .......... Cuz you heading down Haiti way by your admission.
realitycheck242 6 years, 6 months ago
The Central Bank facts says it all. Over 90% of Bahamians do not have or have less than $1000 in their Banks Accounts. Over 4000 Residential and Business mortgages in arrears or have failed . The increase in persons depending of social services. The slow growth in the economy since the recession began. If you live in Nassau you would see there is a noticeable increase in street beggars on most corners or around the shopping areas. The statistics above only explain the tip of the icebearg. The effect that Gambling has on Families and house holds is just beginning to emerge.. I am sure you have heard the stories coming out of Freeport. .
John 6 years, 6 months ago
@Realitycheck : you have me confused. You call me boy and senior citizen almost in the same sentence.
John 6 years, 6 months ago
And exactly when did Bahamians go from liking native good to eating everything foreign. Bahamians always wanted native mutton, native pork and native chickens. They said the imported eggs were ‘too watery ‘ And the native limes had more taste. The imported tomatoes tasted like plastic and 30 years ago you couldn’t get Bahamians to Pizza. When they came back from a trip to ‘The ‘States,’ they would say something like ‘Boy I couldn’t wait to get home to eat some real food.’
realitycheck242 6 years, 6 months ago
When you aint gat much native food choice, and you surrounded by fast food joints. and you dont have the prep time for native foods foods because of the fast pace of city life, Ya taste buds does change over time....Kids today for the most part only know fast food. Ya see we want be like americans, so we eat like Americans... so now we getting american deseases. We dont make make their salaries so cheap food and all the peservatives and antibotics in them have replaced native food unless you still live in a southern family island.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
John ....... you are contradicting yourself just a few comments ago!!!!!
We are slowly dying out as a people through our love for American cheap & fast food ........ the love for drama and violence ....... and laziness and no social life besides FB and Whatsapp.
When you live on the Out Island, you can move freely, go fishing, crabbing and enjoy the beauty of Nature almost for no money at all ...... and eat healthy for cheap.
bogart 6 years, 6 months ago
....Yep MadHatter...Crown Land ..can be used as incentive ...however only the wealthy and connected Bahamians havd benefitted from Crown Lands.....remember the Kenyatta Gibson commission of Inquiry years ago where Exuma beach land was shared out for a few thousand price for vacation retirement and promptly resold for almost a million??? ..Abaco Blackwood retirementt home lots ..Investigations are needed into the Crown Lands which should be open to all and public knowledge....but seems to remain State Secrets.....look at all the noise from thhe Privy Council and Bahamian Bar Association former head on Quieting lands..but daily these ads still appear.....look at the noise on creating a Land Registry for decades....
hrysippus 6 years, 6 months ago
D minus students deserve no more than D minus wages when they enter the work force. It costs parent(s) about $200,000 to feed, clothe and educate a child to 20 years of age. Dumb girls having babies at 15 or 16byears old condemn their children to life-long poverty, but let's blame the government, or the Whiteman, or foreigners owning hotels or businesses in this country. Sigh.......
TheMadHatter 6 years, 6 months ago
Hrysippus. Listen. It's very simple. A "curve" is just a graph of the number of students getting each possible %correct score from 0 to 100. We always find that most grades fall in some middle range - say 55 - 75. The graph looks like a gently rolling hill.
We then draw a line from the highest point down to the x-axis and call this the middle or "median". After that we decide all on our own how far to go (equally) on both sides of this line and draw a line on both sides. The space between these two lines we call the middle group and assign this group our middle grade.
We then travel some other arbitrarily chosen distance to the left of the left line and the same distance to the right of the right line. Again both these distances must be the same. We assign our grade above our middle grade to the right-most group and our grade below our middle grade to the left-most group and we repeat this process assigning grades left and right from our middle as we go.
This concept is used to assign the "average" or "middle" grade to the "average" or "middle" group.
Usually grades are A B C D F so that the middle grade is a C.
But our geniuses ib our government in their infinite conch shell wisdom decided to have grades like A B C D E G F so that the middle grade in the group is a D. Hence our muddle or average students get called D students simply because we CHOOSE to call them that.
This affects their self esteem and this then brings down their peeformance so they truly become losers and ignorants.
I suppose if your goal is to create a steady supply of hotel room cleaners and laundromat workers then this is a brilliant plan. Our children "aspire" to become Atlantis employees because we teach them that such a goal is awesome and super cool.
Own an Atlantis. No. Not you. You are just a D average dumb Bahamian. Dont even think about it.
hrysippus 6 years, 6 months ago
Yes, Madhater, you are correct, if Bahamian grades are looked at in isolation to other countries grade curves. But, although I have no empirical data, I believe the grades earned by Bahamian students are near as can be correct and in line with first world standards of education. My belief is based on 8 close family members transmitting into foreign academic systems or from them. Mu belief is also bolstered by the grades obtained bt Bahamian students when the standard was administered by the Cambridge School of Education, called GCE's prior to Bahamianization.
bogart 6 years, 6 months ago
GOVT HAS ALL THE STATISTICAL DATA,!.,.,
Its not string theory or rocket science!!! Its simple math........look at the annual income of govt employees .bank tellers....Defence Force....Nurses.....say $18,000 per annum... ....Identify all monthly rxpemses...basic expenses...bec...groceries...toiletries..rent..haircare...phone...water.....car...insurance...clothes.underwear shoes....loan payments....car insurance...church tithes etc...and if annual divide by 12 to get monthly. expemse... .....divide salary $18,000 pa by 12 to get monthly Then....MINUS EXPENSES FROM MONTHLY INCOME...$1,500......
Very simple calculations BUT .instead govt and police an Central Bank like to use statistics to say how da Crime rate decreasing....how da more tourists coming to da Bahamas.....WHEN MORE AN MORE BAHAMIAN CATCHIN HELL..BREAD TAKEN OUTTA DEY MOUTS...PEOPLE HUNGRY...CHILDREN HUNGRY...shoppers spending plenty time lookin at meat in grocery store seeing which hav less fat...buying from da trolly wid discounted turning bad produc...even chicken foot wid toes sellin in food store....downrite shame an disgrace that pore catchin hell ....dey children hav to compete wid illegal migrant children ..de adults hav to compeye wid illegal migrant adults working....pore Bahamians cant even buy shares from govt offerings whichin dere sweat help to put dere.....muddoes ...pore Bahamians catchin hell all way round..... ......
banker 6 years, 6 months ago
What you say is true -- the average wage in the Bahamas is not a livable wage. However, you can't raise it because it would actually decrease economic output. The cost of labour would be too high when factored with the cost of energy, the cost of importing absolutely everything and the cost of duty on imports.
In a vibrant economy, humans are considered to be assets. The term is human capital. These human assets provide value to the business. However the value of Bahamian human capital is quite low. This is as a result of a low productivity culture, a poorly educated, barely literate population, a flawed socio-economic fabric with a majority of households being single-parent households, the prevalence of soft crime, like employee shoplifting, embezzlement, tiefin', stealing and time wasting. Hence, you cannot pay a living wage if productivity of the human capital does not warrant it. Quite frankly, in the business world, our human capital is of inferior quality in the context of the first pillar of the economy -tourism. For example, I just vacationed in Mauritius. The workers are motivated, hardworking, customer oriented and earn about 26,000 MUR per year, which translates to about $8,000 per year. Yet productivity grew 4% (defined by the ratio of capital investment to capital output).
So, paying Bahamians more would further decrease our competitiveness and further create more unemployment. And they can't live on what they make. It is a problem that probably does not have a solution, and is a harbinger of a lot of economic pain and turmoil for a majority of Bahamians in the coming years -- until the rising oceans swallow up the Bahamas in 2030. Then Bahamians will be building rafts to get to the US, and the Coast Guard will treat us like we treat the Haitian illegals now -- rounded up and put on the highest ground like drowning, crowded rats on a once-beautiful and larger land.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Bahamians are poor financial planners ........ you can only spend what you make ..... That is Rule#1 and 90% of Bahamians broke that rule from childhood ....... Most parents do not teach their children the value of money, hence these children grow up with NO concepts of how to make money, invest money and save money .......... This is a generational curse.
TheMadHatter 6 years, 6 months ago
hrysippus...yes i agree that a D here has the same educational value of a C there. My point is ... then why not just call it a damned C in the first place? Why do police cars say dial 919 for emergency (and 911)? Just because we want to be different to the point of being stupid.
Why don't we make all if our gas pumps list ans readout gas prices and sales in wookies, where 2 wookies is equal to one dollar.
So if you want $20 worth of gas, you tell the gas pumper "Give me 40 wookies please." That would be stupid and unnecessary right? Same with a D being equal to a C. Stupid and unnecessary.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Madhatter ....... What in the hell are you trying to explain??????
Are you expounding on the MOE grading scheme?????????
BOL
TheMadHatter 6 years, 6 months ago
Sheep. Yes. There is no reason our kids have a D average except that our government DECIDED to make our grade D equivalent to USA grade C. It's a choice that can be unchosen.
Otherwise why not make our grade F equivalent to USA grade C? Then our kids can get F's but "explain" that it's just fine and cool because that's the same as an international C.
F average. Go for it.
ohdrap4 6 years, 6 months ago
They did not mean to set the grade in that manner. C was meant to be a C. That is why COB or UB requires C in Mathe and English, otherwise you take remedial classes.
Once they saw how many students got D's, they spinned this story about the average.
But there is one statistic they do not reveal: what percentage of students get U grades. It is HUUUUUGE. "U" IS THE MODE.
Next time, do not berate the D average. BERATE THE U AVERAGE .
SP 6 years, 6 months ago
How did we get here? Prior to Pindling, Ingraham, and Christie the Bahamas was number 1 in regional tourism, the 3rd most prosperous country in the hemisphere and enjoyed over employment.
Pindling, Ingraham, and Christie "tribalistic leadership" translated to a Bahamas devastated by massive corruption, a failed economy, and the only country in the world that encouraged and facilitated itself being over-run by neighboring foreign invaders.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Ohdrap4 ......... The Ministry of Education does not release the official breakdown of ALL of the results, but they cherry-pick the subjects and say which ones increase (by percentage points) year-over-year ........ and which ones decrease year-over-year. Then a have a fancy Awards presentation every January where over 80% of the awardees are from private schools.
But the raw numbers are never released to the public ........ they are published as a report for the Government and secretly provided to schools as individual subject reports by the following December of the next school year.
The journalists just have to be more "creative" if they really want to get to the truth.
bogart 6 years, 6 months ago
More relating to the article that near 50% of Bahamians cannot make ends meet and the work of the Bahamian .....there are a lot of hard working Bahamian workers who are truly invaluable to many employERS......many workers will go above and beyond for their employERS and ...yes...many employERS will also sing praises to their workers....many workers are extremely innovative, help create new ways...better systems....companies grow ...some leave start their own companies become successfull ..... Credit must be goven to the many Bahamian workers in Banking...Tourism....other businesses ...who work darn hard...suffer indignities...insults...filthy abusive language.....get pregnant for boss....depend on the small underpaid paychecks....little or no benefits....to hold down that job...while bosses get fat build mansions....and those in uniformed services can count on the automatic it seems promotion 2 weeks begore elections,...those in govt can do no wrong and gets paid....those in education who dont xhop up fpr work for months an geys paod....those who works after hours to get fat overtime checks many times their paycheck.....those in some positions who can say yes to every politican to build huge trophy clinics while no beds in pmh....those who are paid to prudently sit on Boatds of Directors but cannot see any wrong doing until the next govt finds it...while the pore Bahamians pay subventions to prop dem up and slacknesses to continue....if you are not the owner you are a worker no matter if you wear a suit an tie....
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
Most Bahamians cannot make ends meet ....... because of a lack of FINANCIAL EDUCATION
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