The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis says he sees no evidence to prove that 10,400 net jobs were created in the country since the Minnis administration took office nearly two years ago.

The claim was made in a Ministry of Finance press statement released Monday and appeared to be the government’s attempt at shifting attention from the grim prospect that statistics released the same day showed unemployment climbed from 10 percent to 10.7 percent.

The assertion, Mr Davis said, is a tough sell. He urged the government to show the proof.

“I don’t know where he is getting his stats,” Mr Davis said in response to a question from The Tribune. “I would like to see that. Where can we point to that, could he tell us how many new persons have been put on the register of National Insurance for example or are these just what I call replacement people – people replaced in jobs that were lost by attrition or otherwise?

“So, new jobs? I don’t see where there are any new jobs.”

He continued: “The only jobs that were created in this country are that which were provided by Baha Mar. The Baha Mar project is the only project from which new jobs would have been created.”

Those in the government have praised the newly released jobs statistics.

Two senior Cabinet members – Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar and Labour Minister Dion Foulkes - on Tuesday in separate interviews said the numbers were proof the Minnis administration’s strategy was working.

The PLP leader rejected this.

He said: “I note the gloat and apparent celebration from the members that have come out. My response to that is we are still far, far away but the numbers speak that this government is not growing this economy fast enough.

“We’re still not creating enough initiatives for us to make a meaningful assault on the unemployment numbers. More particularly what is damning is the fact that our young females are the ones who seem to be the victims of this unemployment scourge that is attending our economy.

“Again, it shows their callousness to gloat over terminating persons in the public service now. We’re talking about the public service and if you look at the demographic of those that were let go, they were those who were on minimum wage and to say that the private sector is picking them up again we need to see the hard evidence. It’s not what we are feeling on the ground.

“When I move through the country, Grand Bahama, the Family Islands, New Providence, the inner-city communities the people on the ground they’re not feeling it. They’re saying well where are these jobs that were created?”

Mr Davis’ comment, however, seemed not to take into account that unemployment also rose under the previous Christie administration.

In January 2015, the Department of Statistics said unemployment rose from 14.3 percent in May 2014 to 15.7 percent as of November that same year.

That report covered the period from October 27 to November 2, 2014. The previous survey completed before that was done in May 2014.

The survey said that the unemployment rate in New Providence jumped from 15 percent to 16 percent while in Grand Bahama it rose from 14.7 per cent to 18.6 per cent.