The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader yesterday said unemployment among Bahamian youth remained “disturbingly high”, as he questioned whether the latest job survey accounted for underemployment and reduced work weeks.

Branville McCartney told Tribune Business that the four percentage point drop in unemployment among 15-24 year-olds was “nothing to brag about” for the Government, given that more one in four in this age category still cannot find work.

“From what you say, youth unemployment fell from 30 per cent to 25.8 per cent,” Mr McCartney said. “That’s nothing to brag about, my friend.

“I don’t believe those figures, but there’s nothing to brag about. Twenty-five per cent youth unemployment is too high; disturbingly high.”

The DNA leader also questioned whether the Department of Statistics’ May 2016 Labour Force survey would have picked up the reduced hours being worked by many in the hotel industry, where many persons were on two-three day weeks.

“In the private sector, there are many businesses that have reduced the hours of work for their employees, and many small businesses have been letting people go in one’s and two’s, here and there. That happens on a daily basis,” Mr McCartney said.

“I wonder whether they are taking into consideration the part-time jobs that persons were given through the Government, and whether or not they were taking into account the jobs created for a few weeks by Carnival, and whether they took into account the jobs created for the upcoming election by the Government.

“People are losing jobs on a daily basis in the financial services industry, people have lost jobs - and continue to lose jobs - in the tourism industry, and persons continue to lose jobs or work reduced days. That’s the reality.”

The Department of Statistics acknowledged that the 2.1 percentage drop in the official unemployment rate to 12.7 percent in the six months to end-May was aided by the creation of temporary jobs for Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival.

In particular, it attributed a large portion of the 26 per cent rise in manufacturing employment to the one-off event.

Mr McCartney, meanwhile, said the Government had been pushing the private sector to take on persons as interns or trainees for the summer.

“Businesses I’m involved with got calls from different ministries to place persons for the summer,” he revealed to Tribune Business, asking whether this was also properly picked up in the latest jobless survey.

Comparing May’s unemployment figures to November’s is viewed by many observers as relatively meaningless, as the two bi-annual Labour Force surveys are conducted against different backdrops and circumstances.

While May typically produces a drop in the unemployment numbers and rate, due to events such as Junkanoo Carnival, and the peak winter tourism season, the figures traditionally spike in November.

This is because that period captures the impact of between 3,000-5,000 annual high school leavers entering the workforce, which usually increases the jobless figures because the Bahamian economy is not growing fast enough to absorb them all.

As a result, many believe the year-over-year comparisons provide a better guide as to how the Bahamian economy is faring in providing sufficient jobs for its people.

Comparing May 2016 to May 2015 paints a much different picture to the six-month comparison employed last week by the Government’s Department of Statistics.

This shows that, compared to May 2015, the total number of unemployed Bahamians actually increased by 10.2 per cent or more than 2,500 year-over-year, rising from 24,980 to 27,520.

This suggests that the 2,000-plus lay-offs from Baha Mar are still working there way through the economy, as are recent high school graduates still struggling to find permanent employment.

Moving the comparisons further out reveals that the total number of Bahamians unemployed at May 2016 almost exactly matches the total from two years ago - 27,520 versus 27,435 in May 2014.

This indicates that while the economy may be keeping pace with new entrants to the labour force, it has been unable to do both this and slash the existing number of jobless Bahamians.