Shane Gibson in the House of Assembly.
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
LABOUR Minister Shane Gibson defended the PLP job creation record insisting that despite his respect for the latest labour force statistics, which showed an increase in unemployment, more people are being employed as the country’s economy grows.
In the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr Gibson said it was wrong for critics to suggest that the Christie administration was not creating jobs.
He told parliamentarians that the challenge was that jobs were not being created at a fast enough pace to substantially impact the unemployment figures.
He said since the PLP took office in May 2012, there was an increase in the number of persons added to the labour force year after year.
“If you look at between 2012 when we first came to office,” Mr Gibson said, “and 2014, the total labour force when we first came to power in May 2012 was 180,310, that’s the total. But out of that you had 160,650 working.
“In May 2013 you had 163,000 employed. In November 2013 that number went to 166,000. So an additional 3,000 persons got jobs who didn’t have it in May of that year and then when you look at May 2014 it went up another 3,000 that year. It went from 166,000 in November 2013 to 169,000 in May 2014.
“You could see that every single May and every single November from the time that we came to government, the number of persons who were employed increased.
“The problem is jobs are not being created at a fast enough rate to reduce the numbers because you have now three to five thousand persons who are coming out of school and more discouraged workers becoming encouraged workers.
“But I think it is wrong for persons to paint the picture that jobs are not being created.”
Mr Gibson said officials were working on a formula to incorporate National Insurance Board contribution payment statistics into the Department of Statistics’ work. He said doing this would give a better reflection of the job climate in the country.
“When we look at NIB numbers they are much greater than these (job statistics). But NIB is not the agency responsible for determining the unemployment rate.
“But (we) have made revisions where we get the numbers from the employers and the employers would now give NIB additional information which will be used along with the Department of Statistics to give us an accurate figure of what is happening in the Bahamas.
“The one thing that don’t lie is contributions. The numbers don’t lie. The economy is growing. Things are happening in the Bahamas and we look forward to employing more people as the time goes by.”
According to the Department of Statistics, unemployment rose from 14.3 per cent in May 2014 to 15.7 per cent as of November last year.
The report covers the period from October 27 to November 2, 2014. The previous survey completed before that was done in May 2014.
The survey said that the unemployment rate in New Providence jumped from 15 per cent to 16 per cent while in Grand Bahama it rose from 14.7 per cent to 18.6 per cent.
A survey in Abaco found its unemployment rate to rest at 20.3 per cent.
The survey results further show that youth, between 15 and 24, continue to face a considerably higher rate of unemployment than any other group. That group’s unemployment rate was 31 per cent, an increase of three per cent from the previous survey, when it was 28 per cent.
Comments
DillyTree 9 years, 9 months ago
Nonsense as usual with these people -- they are always saying how everyone misunderstood what they really said. .
Pure and simple, the PLP promised 10,000 jobs. They have not delivered. As usual.
Cobalt 9 years, 9 months ago
Gulable, stupid, senseless Bahamians believed in the PLP lies and voted for them. As usual.
TalRussell 9 years, 9 months ago
Comrades you and me know the PLP's propaganda machine is good but still has way to go to reach Papa Hubert regime's skill at crafting-da-reds message but it's not for a lack of Minister Shane's ballszeeness to put forth with each attempt of his a slightly different theory, even if it's the most ridiculously different theory, to explain away, why there may not be too many thousands of can't find paychecks Bahamalander's. Might be excusable as no more than an laughable act from the mouth yet another misinformed PLP cabinet minister but isn't Shane the government's minister responsible for creating paychecks? How can you create thousands missing paychecks, if you won't acknowledge they're still missing from pockets hurting families?
Economist 9 years, 9 months ago
The only problem is that you need to be creating 3,500 to 4,000 new jobs each year JUST TO KEEP UP WITH UNEMPLOYMENT.
TO REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT, by say 10,000 over 5 years, then you need to create 5,500 to 6,000 new jobs each year i.e. bring a new Baha Mar on line each year.
TheMadHatter 9 years, 9 months ago
Well, that is true. However, an alternative solution would be for immigration to keep up its strong enforcement policies and to even make them stronger - while for people at the same time to start using condoms.
Government clearly cannot create jobs for people as FAST as people can create more people.
If Gibson creates 5,000 jobs, but the PMH delivery room delivers 7,000 new babies, well, that's just a losing battle. That means 2,000 unemployed.
TheMadHatter
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 9 months ago
How did he become Minister of Labour? I'm serious, is he a reflection of our D-average society? He's the Minister of Labour....common sense should tell you that every year new people are entering the workforce, you should also have some estimates on the number of persons exiting the workforce. Any job creation program should take into account both factors. The fact that more people are entering the workforce every year should not come as a surprise to the Minister of Labour. That's ludicrous
Economist 9 years, 9 months ago
I agree ThisisOurs, it is not like this has not been going on. Indeed, you can go back to the early 90's and this was the case. It was not so obvious during the mid to late 90's as we had Atlantis and several other projects that created more jobs and reduced unemployment.
It is a governments job to reduce unemployment and the minister must know this. But to increase employment will require greater FDR, and with our closed immigration policy it is unlikely. I am not talking about illegals here at all. We need to open immigration in a way to create competition which will improve the per person output and thus GDP.
Bahamians are as good as anyone, when it comes to work but they feel that they don't have to do much as the investor can't hire anyone who would show them up. We have so much potential. Give us some competition and we excel, just look at our athletes at the Olympics.
Increase the FDR, and you can reduce unemployment.
calinstanciu 9 years, 9 months ago
I must agree with him. I thin that if we take a close look at thing we will see that more people are working now and this is improving every year, but indeed, things are not moving at the pace we would want them too and it can be difficult to see the improvement. http://www.oferte.info/exclusiv-online-…">:D
Cobalt 9 years, 9 months ago
Don't blame Shane Gibson for talking foolishness. Thats all he knows how to do.
Blame the stupid, jackass Bahamians who voted for him! Get to the root of the problem in this country! The root problem is that the Bahamas is saturated with asinine dummies who don't possess the capacity to critically think and assess civic issues! These very same fools who complain everyday are the very same fools who elected Shane Gibson and the PLP. So shut y'all ass.
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