Statistician Cypreanna Winters and Leona Wilson, acting director of statistics, held a press conference at the Department of Statistics to announce the November 2016 Labour Force Survey results. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE unemployment rate between October 24-30 was 11.6 per cent, a 1.1 per cent decline from May, the previous time the Department of Statistics conducted their Labour Force Survey, officials announced yesterday.
The decline came as hundreds of Bahamians gained employment in the construction sector after Hurricane Matthew’s devastating impact.
DOS officials could not assess the quality of the jobs created in the time between the two most recent surveys, such as whether they are likely to be stable or temporary jobs.
However, Leona Wilson, the acting director of the DOS, admitted that an unemployment rate decline would not have taken place if it were not for the construction jobs created in the wake of the powerful storm.
The Christie administration’s 52-week job programme also contributed to the unemployment rate decline, benefiting mostly young people, although officials were unable to say how many people have been employed through the programme.
The survey will likely be embraced by government officials, as it is the last labour force survey that will be released before the next general election.
The release of the survey’s results came a day after rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the country’s credit rating to “junk” status, a first for the country.
Cypreanna Winters, a statistician with the DOS, said between May and October, 4,025 people were employed and 2,155 people became unemployed.
“The three most populated islands that were surveyed experienced decreases in their unemployment rates,” she said.
The unemployment rates in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco were 12.9 per cent, 13.3 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively for the specified period.
For the first time, the DOS included Bimini and Exuma in its Labour Force Survey.
Those islands have an employment rate of four per cent and eight per cent respectively.
“Among the employed labour force, there were more men than women,” Ms Winters said. “However, in all the islands surveyed, except Bimini and Exuma, men were fewer in numbers among the unemployed labour force.”
Employment among youth, people aged 15-24, “decreased slightly since May,” Ms Winters said.
“However, when compared to November 2015, employment among youths increased by 4.3 per cent. The youth unemployment rate stood at 25.1 per cent in November (2015).”
The number of discouraged workers, people who do not look for jobs because they believe none are available, declined by over 15 per cent between May and late October.
The DOS concluded that more than 1,385 people were employed directly because of Hurricane Matthew.
The construction industry experienced the largest employment growth of all the sectors, a growth rate of 16 per cent.
Ms Winters said: “Prior to the passage of Hurricane Matthew, 14 per cent of households in the country needed repairs. However, after the storm 51 per cent of the households in the country needed some kind of repairs to their dwelling. Sixty-eight per cent of homes that were severely impacted were in New Providence and 18 per cent in Grand Bahama. Damage to roofs was the most severe followed by damage to floors due to flooding. Of the homes in New Providence that needed repairs, 94 per cent needed roof repairs and in Grand Bahama nearly all had roof damage.”
In July, DOS officials announced that the overall unemployment rate was 12.7 per cent after a 2.1 per cent decline, with officials pointing to Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival “related activities” accounting for some of the improvement. That survey covered the reference period of April 25 to May 1, 2016.
The overall unemployment rate stood at 14.8 per cent when the previous survey was done in November 2015.
Comments
sangeej 7 years, 10 months ago
Unemployment in this country is over 15%, closer to 20%, people stop looking especially if you are over 45, smh!!!
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 10 months ago
Even the international rating agencies don't fall for this nonsense anymore. They know the corrupt Crooked Christie-led PLP government would try have all of us believe S_H_I_I_A_T don't stink!
Honestman 7 years, 10 months ago
What a pointless statistic.
Reality_Check 7 years, 10 months ago
What utter nonsense! Everyone knows the overall real rate of unemployment in the Bahamas has been well in excess of 20% for years and is now rapidly approaching 30%.
banker 7 years, 10 months ago
A local professional Bahamian had a foreign colleague attached to an NGO (Non Government Organisation doing charity work here) do some sampling and analysis of the data set of the socio-economic conditions of Nassau, and the results were staggering. I was privy to some of the information.
First and foremost, the systemic unemployment rate is about 30% when you count the folks who have stopped looking, the young folks who have never tried looking but survive day-to-day with unofficial odd jobs or grifting, and those who live in aggregated family groups where one or two has a job, and the rest of the adults in the group do not.
The second major surprise was the amount of Haitians in the New Providence population. The numbers are higher than anyone suspects.
The third major surprise, was the endemic poverty. People are surviving on incomes way below the official poverty line. It is amazing how many there are, and how they keep it together in the face of a horrible economy.
The fourth surprise was the above average incidence of preventable diseases that have economic-impact parameters. Coupled to that, is a genetic preponderance for breast cancer among Bahamian women, and the lack of resources for proper nutrition is a factor.
All of these things are exacerbated by chronic and systemic unemployment. And it is insulting, that the well-fed director of statistics sits up at a microphone in a very porcine manner and announces that unemployment is lower. Even if it were (which is a lie -- it is not), it would only be a temporary stop gap measure to repair hurricane damage, and all of those folks are out of a job or will be shortly.
We are on the razor's edge of economic collapse, especially when the ramifications of the downgrade to junk status of the sovereign debt kicks in.
Islandboy242242 7 years, 10 months ago
Does it really matter at this point in time. We're talking about temporary jobs for the most part. Lets focus on where the VAT $$ is going, why we're spending another $20 million on Clifton cleanup after $10 million was allocated and "somehow" used in Jan 2015. Lets focus on getting a refund on those Christmas Decorations by Arawak Cay.
TalRussell 7 years, 10 months ago
Comrades! Thankfully, jobs were created before and after under the much talked about $334,000.16 Christmas tree wrap decorations were wrapped around trees.
Before, as in all the skilled and creative artsy workers who laboured at designing and making the wraps... And as in after the $334,000.16 was spent even more state funds be allocated to hire the workers to load this crap onto the trucks for hauling off to where it really belongs - the damn dump dump?
Is it just my curiosity to Ho, Ho-Hum, what in the hell did they spend the "16 Cents" on?
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2016…
thomas 7 years, 10 months ago
Is it just my curiosity to Ho, Ho-Hum, what in the hell did they spend the "16 Cents" on? You are not alone
banker 7 years, 10 months ago
Actually it was 16 cents for the surplus gunny sacks and and the rest of it went into Neville Whizdumb's pocket.
TalRussell 7 years, 10 months ago
Comrade Banker, does you remember how the same crocus sacks they used make the Christmas tree wrap, was used by our grannies makes them Puff Leg homemade brand baggy panties?
banker 7 years, 10 months ago
Too young for that, but I do remember as a very young lad, visiting relatives in Moss Town, and I was appalled that a crocus sack was used for a door on the cabin of Mum's godmother.
GrassRoot 7 years, 10 months ago
the 16 Cents is the trickling down effect of the "investment".
DEDDIE 7 years, 10 months ago
Jokey Statistics. Do a check during Carnival and now a check during hurricane reconstruction.
GrassRoot 7 years, 10 months ago
so whats the margin of error on the statistics? 100%?
John 7 years, 10 months ago
If you take a quick drive around New Providence, you will notice that with just a few days before Christmas many stores remain empty of customers but laden with inventory. But if you go to places like Mr. Ship It, Express It, even Fed Express and DHL they are bustling with business and some to the point that they can barely accommodate their customers or the merchandise they brought in for them. The same is true with Bahamasair, Jet Blue, The Mail Boat and The Betty K. Some people are spending days trying to locate and collect goods they purchased abroad either online or in person. And the local stores remain empty and unpatronized. So when January comes another set of stores will have to close, another set of employees will be terminated and government will have to cater to them through social services of national insurance. The internet has made it possible for consumers to go online and shop at the same prices that many store owners do. And now with the popularity of free shipping they can get their goods delivered to their door even for a fraction of what it costs to purchase them here. Yet government continue to pile more taxes on local businesses increasing their operating costs and causing more and more to fail and more and more Bahamians to become unemployed. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Look at what is going on in the hotel\ tourism industry, the food and fast food business sector, the banking industry. The Bahamas has become a suitcase economy more now than ever, where too much of the money passing through the economy does not remain here. And the tax burden is disproportionate where many goods are being prepared or sold offshore and services are provided in a way to avoid taxes. So the economy continues to crumble.
John 7 years, 10 months ago
Eventually government is going to have to differentiate between goods being brought into the country by consumers/end users and goods being imported by licensed businesses for tax purposes. Is it fair that private persons can get exemptions and import goods into the country at the same rate as persons who have to pay business license fees, property taxes, national insurance and other fees and taxes to operate their businesses? These people also hire employees and contribute to the GDP. They have to pay two sets of VAT: one when the goods are imported and another when the goods are sold. How can the compete with someone who can bring goods in and not have to pay these taxes?
John 7 years, 10 months ago
The unemployment rate for New Providence is about 3 points below the national rate for the month of December. This puts the unemployment rate at 9%. This is not unusual for the month as many businesses take on extra staff for the holidays. What is unusual is that the restoration and repair works for hurricane Mathew is still going on so a lot more males are employed now that probably since the road works were completed. Also what is unusual is while temperatures remain relatively warm here, most of the US and Canada is covered under a below freezing winter blanket. So hotels are starting to see their occupancy numbers go up and some are hiring additional staff in anticipation of high occupancy in January and February. If Bah Mar starts hiring in January as promised with a partial opening in April, this should make the first quarter of 2017 very robust for the New Providence/ Paradise Island economies, with even lower unemployment numbers. And if the US economy continues to respond positively to Donald Trump's election to president, eventually some of that economic activity will start to flow into the Bahamas. The question is: Is the tourism plant ready and prepared to accommodate the additional inflow, and what additional advertising and promotions are being planned to attract more American visitors?
asiseeit 7 years, 10 months ago
And if you are gullible enough to believe this, I have a hotel for sale out at Coral Harbour that needs minor repair, cheap! These people are trying to save their hides, not a word can be believed by these evil people.
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