Nearly 300 jobs are expected to be made available to young persons in the country during the third and fourth quarters of this year.

This was revealed by Labour Director Robert Farquharson during an interview with The Bahama Journal over the weekend.

The Department of Statistics Labour Survey revealed that while there was a decline in the unemployment rate among youth (15-24) (From 25.1 percent to 24.1 percent) it was still considerably higher than any other age group.

“Department of Labour in conjunction with the Ministry of National Security has embarked on the Citizens Security and Justice Program and the employability aspect of that program is about to kick in during the third and fourth quarter of 2017,” Mr. Farquharson said.

“This will involve the training and employment of 200-300 young people between the ages of 16-29.  We expect it to have a direct impact on those numbers.

“It’s a four-year program and over the four years we are expected to train about 1,600 persons and have all these persons employed.”

The Citizens Security and Justice Program was launched in May 2016 by the previous administration.

The Progressive Liberal Party quickly moved to capitalize on the survey results, with PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts saying Friday that the statistics from 2012 to 2017 show that 39,505 jobs were added to the economy, 7,770 of which were added in the final six months of the Christie administration.

“Regardless of what is said about the PLP government under Mr. Christie, those are the objective numbers and the unvarnished facts,” Mr. Roberts said.

The program focuses on non-violent conflict resolution, youth employment training, the strengthening of the Public Employment Services, the continuation of the successful work of the Swift Justice Initiative, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.

The program, funded by a $20 million loan from the Inter-American Bank (IDB), represents the “single largest investment in a coordinated and comprehensive policy to address crime” in The Bahamas.