1 week Ago
Even though a job fair hosted by the government of Guyana in partnership with the private sector was aimed mainly at Guyanese citizens resident in Trinidad and Tobago, hundreds of locals still turned up at the Chaguanas venue looking for employment. What makes this somewhat odd is that T&T’s unemployment rate, according to the Central Statistical Office, is 4.8%.
That’s considered to be full employment. Yet persons interviewed by the Sunday Express, from a 23-year-old University of the West Indies (UWI) graduate with a degree in chemical engineering to a 33-year-old single mother, complained that they couldn’t find work here. “The officials from Guyana had quite a lot to say about development within their country,” the engineer said.
“That’s something I’m looking forward to, and I’m not exactly seeing it in Trinidad.” The single mother told our reporter, “It is very difficult to get a job in Trinidad. I am not working, and I have to mind me and my child, so I want to explore the job opportunities there.
” Technically, the CSO’s 4.8% figure is correct, but unemployment is calculated by surveying people who say they are looking for work but haven’t found any. If a person isn’t seeking a job, they are not classified as unemployed.
Additionally, people who work a “ten days” are described as employed. This is one reason the Government, even with deficit budgets every year and growing public debt, has continued to allocate around $270 million annually to the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) and $420 million to the Community-based Environment Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP). That money lets employment statistics be massaged and catches votes in selected areas.
However, expenditure on these programmes also skews the job market. After all, if three to four hours “work” a day earns an individual enough money to buy food and to survive, they have little incentive to take an eight-hour weekly job that pays only a slightly higher wage. Although, unlike URP and CEPEP, private sector work often offers marketable experience and skills even at entry level, the young people who most need to learn on the job typically find make-work or crime more attractive options.
This is partly why the youth unemployment rate is 12% for 15- to 24-year-olds. And that figure would most likely be even higher if, as shown by data from the Central Bank, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) had not been steadily declining in recent years, dropping from a 62% average between 1999 and 2014 to 57% over the next eight years, down to 54% in 2024. The standard response from laypersons, and even some economists, is that the Government must “create jobs”.
The problem is, governments do not create profit-driven jobs, since all national revenues come from the private sector through taxes. A government’s responsibility is to implement policies that facilitate firms, entrepreneurs and investors, who are the key drivers of economic growth. But, if that has been happening over the past nine years, it’s a well-kept State secret.
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