The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian businesses yesterday gave mixed views over recent unemployment data which revealed that, while the jobless rate declined to 8.8 percent, both the workforce's size and number of persons employed shrank.

Vasco Bastian, the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association’s vice-president, told Tribune Business he believes the unemployment figures are “down". He added: “It’s very impressive numbers. It says that whatever the policies that the Government is implementing are working. I don’t buy the argument from Kwasi Thompson. I just think he is trying to score political brownie points. I think the Government is doing an excellent job.”

Mr Thompson, former minister of state for finance and currently the east Grand Bahama MP, told this newspaper that the reduction in the unemployment rate from 9.5 percent in May 2019 to the present 8.8 percent is a "smokescreen" because of the reduction in employed persons and the overall workforce.

Comparing the May 2023 findings with those from four years ago, as the May 2019 survey was the last before Hurricane Dorian and the COVID pandemic struck, he noted that during this period the workforce has seemingly shrunk from 237,525 in the latter survey to 219,465 now - a drop of almost 8 percent or just over 18,000 persons.

Similarly, Mr Thompson told this newspaper that the number of employed Bahamian workers had also shrunk over the same period - by almost 7 percent or just over 14,000 persons, falling from 214,890 to 200,175 today. Warning that a shrinking workforce would have negative consequences for present and future economic growth, he questioned how the number of working Bahamians could have fallen despite the influx of school leavers in each of the past four years.

Mr Bastian, though, said: “I don’t want to get into the statistical back and forth, but the numbers are down and that’s a good sign. That means that the economy is going in the right direction and more people are working, which means it's good for the overall economy.”

Andrew Higgs, WHIM Automotive's general manager, said the decrease in the number of employed persons is “not a good thing”, and this means people have just stopped looking for jobs altogether. “We just advertised for a few positions and we received hundreds of applications, and it all looks the same compared to 2019," he added.

"But I admit this all depends on where I put the advertisement out. If I put it on social media, I would get 100 or so applications at a time. We get a few random applications, too, and I can’t say that it’s any more or less; they look like the same.”

Gregory Sherman, owner/operator of G.S. Landscaping Company & Property Management, said he does not see the unemployment rate as having decreased substantially because of the number of persons he sees who are out of work. “We have to pay attention to the amount of people that are discouraged and not even looking for work. That portion has risen," he added.

“We’re just looking at the numbers that the PLP says, which are not always accurate. The PLP and the Statistics department has a very long history. We can go back into the previous Perry Christie administration. It has always been a problem. I believe it was a problem then, and I believe it is a problem now.”