By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
A Cabinet minister yesterday warned some existing work permits are unlikely to be renewed as The Bahamas grapples with a 50 percent unemployment rate post-COVID-19.
Elsworth Johnson, minister of financial services, trade and industry and immigration, reiterated the government’s long-standing policy that qualified Bahamians who are available to do the work will be given first shot at all jobs which become available.
Speaking to the media outside the Cabinet office, he suggested that enforcing this will assume extra urgency and importance in the wake of the damage inflicted upon the economy and working Bahamians by the pandemic.
“We know that 50 percent of the population is unemployed,” Mr Johnson said. “Some work permits will not be renewed. Wherever you have fit and proper, competent Bahamians to do the job, they will be given that opportunity to do the job.
“What we have done in the interim, because persons are sheltering in The Bahamas, is that the Competent Authority (Prime Minister’s Office) has extended existing annual work permits with the caveat and understanding that we have already refused some work permits.”
The minister’s assertion that The Bahamas is suffering from a 50 percent unemployment rate is much higher than the recent 30 percent forecast given by the prime minister. If the minister is correct, that would mean more than 115,000 Bahamians are jobless.
Department of Statistics research showed that around 50 percent of work permits issued in 2017 and 2018 were applied for by private households and homeowners seeking maids, gardeners, handymen and other forms of domestic workers. And more than 60 percent of approved work permits went to Haitians, Filipinos and Jamaicans - the nationalities that typically fill such roles.
Many observers believe Bahamians view such work as beneath them and shy away from such jobs, but others counter that salary rates are too low to interest a population already grappling with the high cost of living.
Mr Johnson yesterday said there had to be better co-ordination between the Immigration and Labour departments over work permit applications and approvals, while available, qualified Bahamians needed to make their existence known.
“We have to work closely with the Department of Labour, and we’re calling on the society to let us know. They have to now go in the employment exchange to let them know what their qualifications are,” Mr Johnson said.
He added that while there were no particular sectors where work permits may be restricted, there needed to be “due diligence” to ensure no qualified Bahamian available to work misses out on an opportunity before an expatriate is hired.
“We are forcefully pushing the digitisation process. We’re tired of hearing persons say that they can’t find their documents,” Mr Johnson said of the Immigration Department. “COVID-19, as devastating as it is, reassured us of the urgency to digitise.
“There is no reason why you should not be able to upload your application online, pay online, get a contemporary response, and for the system to produce an algorithm to say within a reasonable time this is when we will deal with your application.”
Comments
Economist 4 years, 7 months ago
Well that's a great way to ensure less Foreign Direct Investment. Way to tank the econommy even more.
Obviously did not hear Mr. Kinsale a couple of days ago.
You need to speed up immigration APPROVALS, GET THE FDR in and thus CREATE JOBS FOR BAHAMIANS.
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