The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Chamber of Commerce’s labour head yesterday said he did “not understand the rationale” for raising work permit fees, amid warnings it will not reduce Bahamian unemployment.

Peter Goudie, head of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) employment and labour division, told Tribune Business that the organisation had requested the Government’s “position paper” on the issue and would seek to develop its own by today. “I can tell you we have requested a copy of the position paper from the Government yesterday [Monday],” he told Tribune Business. “We are waiting for that position paper because we don’t understand what the rationale is, and we’re going to form a position paper tonight or first thing in the morning, and deal with it.”

Mr Goudie spoke out after Brent Symonette, minister of financial services, trade and industry and Immigration, revealed the planned work permit fee increase - the first for a decade - in the House of Assembly on Monday.

“We will be making an official announcement coming July 1,” Mr Symonette said. “Immigration fees will increase. These have not been increased since 2008. We will publish a full listing of those fees. I will say that one of the areas affected is the lowest level, which has been $1,000 for a work permit. That will be going to $2,000 for a work permit.”

Mr Goudie said the 100 per cent increase, or doubling of costs, would impact foreign workers typically hired for jobs Bahamians do not want to perform, such as maids, gardeners, handymen, labourers and landscapers.

None of the other proposed increases, which may take effect from the 2018-2019 fiscal year, were disclosed. However, there were warnings that an increase in work permit fees could negatively impact small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by pricing skilled expatriate workers beyond their reach, while the move would do little to improve jobs prospects for Bahamians.

Robert Myers, an Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) principal, told Tribune Business he was “a bit disappointed” to hear the Government’s plans as it threatened to impose further costs and bureaucracy on the private sector.

“It’s not what I was expecting to hear,” he told Tribune Business. “What the private sector and foreign direct investors are looking to hear about is a reduction in the cost and ease of doing business that encourages us to invest more in the country.”

Mr Myers said businesses also wanted to see a cut in the fiscal deficit and national debt that was achieved through spending reductions and controls, rather than any revenue-raising measures that “further burden the private sector and make us regionally less competitive”.

“By increasing work permit fees you actually hurt SMEs, as they are less able to afford the type of employee they need to expand their business,” he told Tribune Business. “That hits GDP. Increasing work permit fees is going to slow growth and not reduce unemployment.

“The reason you bring in expatriates is because you don’t have the skill set required available locally.... Doubling work permit fees is not going to help the uneducated get a job, and it’s a bit naive to think it will. It’s not going to make foreign direct investors want to come to the Bahamas. It’s not going to help our level of competitiveness.

“The Government ought to be focused on the right thing, and what they promised they would do, but raising work permit fees is not the best way to improve the economy of the Bahamas. It may be one way, but has the potential to do more damage than good,” Mr Myers continued.

“If a business can’t find a Bahamian to do it, and you create prohibitions to bringing in expatriates to do it, they don’t grow. If one expatriate worker means you also hire four Bahamians, that’s a win.”

Mr Myers, whose businesses rely on just 2-3 per cent expatriate labour, added that the proposed work permit fee increases could send “the wrong message” to a Bahamian private sector in desperate need of further pro-growth signals from the Minnis administration.

He suggested they would be more palatable if the funds collected were used to improve the education system, and train Bahamians so that businesses have a ready-made workforce.

“If you told me that the Immigration Department and Ministry of Education were actively collaborating on this, so that the additional fees from work permits go to workforce development, vocational education, improving apprenticeship programmes and the education system, so the private sector has more capable people, we would applaud,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business. “But the right hand doesn’t seem to be talking to the left.’