The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE government yesterday denied a recent international report that claimed unemployment in Grand Bahama stood at a staggering rate of nearly 50 percent following Hurricane Dorian, insisting the data came from no state agency or entity.

According to a joint statement released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social Services, no government official or representative prepared the information contained in the report.

Additionally both ministries said the report was not the product of any government agency or entity and didn’t reflect an official national statistic.

The information detailed in the report was published in The Nassau Guardian earlier this month citing the Department of Social Services as the source of the statistical data. This report was initially posted on humanitarian site ReliefWeb – an information source on global crises and disasters. However the report has since been removed.

“The Ministry of Finance is the supervisory agent for the Department of Statistics, which has the legal mandate to independently collect and report on employment rates in the country using globally recognised methodology,” the joint statement read. “The government is monitoring unemployment claims with the National Insurance Board and social assistance claims at the Ministry of Social Services, recognising the gravity of the situation in Grand Bahama and in Abaco and the blow to employment in the islands.”

However, the statement said the underlying information in the report “is not a representative statistical sample of Grand Bahama and neither was it intended to be so”

It continued: “The data came from a survey of ‘impacted’ families that the Department of Social Services had canvassed on Grand Bahama in the aftermath of the storm.

“The National Insurance Board (NIB) has advised the Ministry of Finance that between September and November of 2019, it has received 888 applications for unemployment benefits from Grand Bahama.

“The labour force on the island was last surveyed by the Department of Statistics in May 2019 – with the number of employed persons equaling 29,235 out of a working population of 32,825.”

The government said while the 888 applications for unemployment benefits does indicate an upward move in unemployment given the devastation of Dorian, it does not signal a spike in unemployment equal to 16,000 persons – which would represent an unemployment rate of 50 percent in Grand Bahama.

The Department of Statistics will conduct the scheduled national census in 2020, which will provide a comprehensive report on a range of statistical data for the entire country, the statement said, adding that a specialised labour force survey will not be conducted in the year of the census, as has been historical practice.

In May, Grand Bahama’s unemployment rate was 10.9 percent, according to data from the Department of Statistics.

The disputed report, “Post-Hurricane Social Trends in Grand Bahama”, detailed the unemployment situation as of November 5.

It claimed that 47 percent of people in Freeport were unemployed.

In East End, the report in question said 48 percent had no jobs and West End had the highest number of unemployment at 60 percent.

• This story was corrected from the print edition to reflect that the report published in The Nassau Guardian earlier this month cited the Department of Social Services – not the Department of Statistics.