Unemployment in Guyana has its genesis in the PNC era

Oct 05, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
The PPP/C from its inception in office has had its drawbacks. But, these hitches were not wholly as a result of the party’s influence or control, especially dating back to socio-economic decline in the 1970s and 1980s under the PNC.
When the PPP/C came into power in 1992, all was not well, and it was this party which had to bring Guyana to some level of stability.
Along with just a few successes from the implementation of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1989 came the failure of high public and private sector employment. And, one should recall that the ERP as a stabilization and structural adjustment programme was implemented due to the economic collapse under the PNC dictatorship.
In this process, some government-owned enterprises were becoming privately managed or owned and the private sector in an embryonic stage at that time could not absorb all of the public sector employees.
Even today, the private sector is not fully developed and well-matured in Guyana. However, with the presence of a strong private sector or not, government will continue to play a key role in the economy, especially in developing countries that cannot depend on globalization to be the panacea for its social and economic problems, as World Bank and World Trade Organization would have indicated.
This role played by Government is evidentiary through the ownership, control or management of public sector enterprises. This allows for deliberate government policies to secure employment, provision of public goods, and the provision of basic goods and services and so on.
Investments are also important in facilitating employment in the economy, but due to the works of globalization, investors especially, foreign investors are not obligated to re-invest their capital and profits within the host countries. An exception would be those countries such as the Asian Tigers, for example, which had a strong developmental state function in which the state has the central power to guide the economy, and hence has the power to determine conditions of investment and re-investment.
The type of unemployment that seems to be more problematic in Guyana is structural unemployment. Structural unemployment cannot be dealt with under the whims of the free market economy, but through the use of government policies.
According to Ehrenberg and Smith, 1994, “structural unemployment arises when changes in the pattern of labour demand cause mismatch between the skills demanded and supplied in a given area or cause an imbalance between the supplies of and demand for workers across areas.” Governments, therefore, play a role in reducing structural unemployment by reducing rigidities, such as, high cost of occupational and geographical mobility, wages inflexibility and high trade union power.
Subsequent to the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1989, there have been many long-run changes taking place in the structure of the Guyanese Economy that have implications for the demand for skills in the future and hence, for the reform of education and training.
Let’s take the 2002 consensus recorded level of unemployment of 12% as an example. If we have employment rate of 12%, and there is still a demand for skilled labour, then this is indicating to us that the unemployed persons may not have the necessary academic requirements and experience demanded by the employers currently or it may be a case of structural unemployment.
As we can see, this structural nature of unemployment in Guyana has its genesis in the 1970s and 1980s PNC era.
Kenwah Cho Quan Yi

Latest News

Unemployment in Guyana has its genesis in the PNC era

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 21st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Mainstay Goldstar FC secures promotion to Elite League Season 7

Matthews’ all-round brilliance powers Windies...

Slingerz FC wants Shabazz

Stepton Barton, ‘Superman’ Lewis,...

Powerlifting Federation commends Government for...

Statistician Charwayne Walker expresses...

Features/Columnists

How do you analyse a Budget?

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

PPP Govt giving itself rich budget treats

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Unemployment in Guyana has its genesis in the PNC era

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 21st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]