The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

WHEN it comes to education, The Bahamas is not getting the bang for its buck, the National Development Plan Secretariat suggests in its State of the Nation Report.

It notes that while education is compulsory and free through the public school system and The Bahamas spends almost more money on education as a per cent of overall expenditure than any other country in the region, only half of graduating high school students each year achieve a diploma.

The rest receive a “certificate of attendance” for attending classes though they did not meet the standards needed to graduate.

Because of such poor outcomes, businesses frequently complain about human resources talent.

“A significant portion of Bahamian youth are not only unemployed, but in many respects, because of substantial skills deficits, they are unemployable without intervention,” the report says.

While the report notes that this trend could be corrected with better training, an inadequately educated workforce was cited in a World Bank study on youth employment in the Caribbean as the top obstacle affecting businesses in The Bahamas, followed by customs and trade regulations.

“Concerns about the workforce and customs and trade regulations were consistently highlighted,” the report says. “The skills mismatch becomes more acute as the firm grows in size. However, while there is a demand for technical skills, a review of the immigration statistics revealed a skew towards entry level skilled labour.”

The unemployment rate in the country is 14.8 per cent, with more than one in seven Bahamians out of a job, according to the most recent Labour Force Study.

Youth employment is at 30 per cent, prompting the NDP Secretariat to call this a “greater story of lost productivity and deterioration in the health of the Bahamian economy due to lower output, reduced consumption, reduced investment and increased social spending.”

Poverty

The report also notes that “poverty in The Bahamas is growing”.

The poverty rate grew from 9.3 per cent to 12.8 per cent between 2001 and 2013, the study says. Forty-five per cent of those persons categorised as poor were gainfully employed but unable to earn enough to take care of their families. Of the “working poor”, the report notes, 72 per cent were employed in the private sector, “providing some support for the introduction of minimum wage legislation”.

“The Family Islands have a disproportionate share of the poor with Abaco and Andros and Eleuthera recording the higher rates of 20.3 per cent and 17.3 per cent (2013) respectively. Approximately 18 per cent of children under four years and 20 per cent of children 5-14 years are living in poverty. This represents a significant portion of the future population at risk of falling between the cracks and lost economic potential for the country. The lack of education and skills has been highlighted as a leading cause of poverty.”

The secretariat drew connections between such poor economic outcomes and the rise in violent crime, saying: “Much of the increased instances of criminality in The Bahamas can be attributed to the rising levels of poverty as the society becomes more unequal.”

The report cited a 2011 College of The Bahamas study of inmates at the Department of Correctional Services. That study concluded that poverty was the second leading cause of crime, following the breakdown of the family.

The State of the Nation Report was released during a press conference attended by Prime Minister Perry Christie and secretariat officials on Monday.

The report can be viewed at http://www.cob.edu.bs/DOCS/VISION2040SNR.pdf.