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THERE IS MORE TO THE JOB PICTURE THAN JUST HIGH NUMBERS
Dear Editor,
Kaieteur News – With regards to SN’s Editorial on Saturday, 4th May, titled “Fifty thousand jobs”, I wish to offer six additional considerations. First, SN’s demand that the government should produce verifiable data on employment, rather than snatching figures from the air, is quite in order. In this regard, we should note that the Bureau of Statistics has stopped publishing the Guyana Labour Force Survey (GLFS) since the third quarter of 2021. This stoppage is not accidental. Apart from overall unemployment, the survey also provides such information as underemployment, youth unemployment, average monthly incomes, and employment by ethnicity and gender. Several of these surveys were produced and released under the Coalition government. None has been released over the last three years.
Second, it is sheer political ruse to boast about the number of jobs created without addressing the income workers receive from these jobs. Are these good paying permanent jobs? In Guyana, as we know, we have a massive amount of working poor, both in the private and public sectors. Furthermore, for any given worker in the construction and agriculture industries, much of the work would be intermittent, seasonal, or unpredictable. All told, many who work still face daily food poverty.
Third, if as the government claims that it has created 65,000 jobs and, further, that there exists a labour shortage, why have the ranks of 10-day workers swollen to around 16,000 persons, and why has their payroll jumped from $6.6B in 2023 to $10B in 2024? One would have assumed that these part-time workers would have been absorbed into the full-time labour force. So, what is really going on?
Fourth, it is another example of the classic incompetence of the PPP to boast about high employment rates and labour shortage and ignore to properly address the likelihood that more women are entering the workforce. Several issues arise when women join the workforce in greater numbers, such as the availability of childcare services, and the female-friendliness of workplace rules and practices. This kind of complex thinking and planning is beyond the PPP.
Fifth, if tens of thousands of persons have joined the workforce, then a government must also ensure that the concomitant demand for general supporting services is being met, such as transportation services, recreational services, and health and wellbeing (including mental health) services.
Sixth, if indeed, the labour force has swollen and the labour market is tight, then a proper government would not be trying to diminish and sideline workers unions, but would instead be seeking to collaborate with them as partners and fellow stakeholders.
Guyana needs a new kind of governmentality if we are to move beyond simplistic notions of development and stagnant living standards. This is not going to happen under the PPP.
Sincerely,
Sherwood Lowe
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