The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said an estimated 13 percent of the Bahamian workforce is still receiving unemployment benefits financed by the Government.

Dion Foulkes, minister for labour, transport and local government, speaking outside the Cabinet Office, said unemployment assistance is being provided to between 28,000 to 30,000 persons although the Department of Statistics' input and research will be required to produce an accurate figure.

He added: “The unemployment assistance programme that NIB issues in terms of the assistance that the Government is giving is around 28,000 or 30,000 persons.

“If you figure that in terms of the percentage, it will come down to a low percentage compared to 220,000 workers [in the workforce], but that is not the right way to do it because you have structural unemployment and there are a lot of other things that go into the calculation of what the unemployment rate is.

"But since the pandemic’s start I am confident, based on the evidence that we see in the economy, that the unemployment rate has drastically come down. Because everything was at a standstill and most of the businesses, they put their workers on temporary lay-offs. That has now changed; most of the people are coming back to work. So it's very difficult to peg a percentage on that.”

The Bahamas' national unemployment rate had crept back above 10 percent in late 2019, the last time the Department of Statistics bi-annual Labour Force Survey was conducted, due to a combination of Hurricane Dorian and the annual summer influx of several thousand school leavers into the workforce.

However, the initial COVID-19 lockdown and associated restrictions last March sent the unemployment rate skyrocketing as closed businesses temporarily furloughed or laid-off staff. It was thought to have peaked at about 50 percent, although it has since come down as the economy re-opens, yet remains at elevated levels

Mr Foulkes added: “We are actively working with the minister of tourism and the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) to ensure that jobs are available in the tourism sector, and that Bahamian businessmen have the financial wherewithal and resources to engage in their new businesses.”