The Free National Movement (FNM) is taking the credit for the recent decline in unemployment figures released by the Department of Statistics last week.
The country’s overall employment rate dropped from 15.9 per cent to 14.7 per cent.
“The survey was conducted for the period in which the FNM was in office, and shows a significant decrease in the unemployment numbers for both New Providence and Grand Bahama,” FNM Deputy Leader, Loretta Butler-Turner said in a statement sent late Friday.
According to the statistics, both New Providence and Grand Bahama experienced a decline in the unemployment rate. In the case of New Providence the rate fell from 15.1 per cent to 14.0 per cent and in Grand Bahama from 21.2per cent to 17.3 per cent.
“It is clear that the policies of the Ingraham administration were critical in helping to stabilise the economy and boost employment numbers,” Mrs. Butler-Turner said.
“These efforts included the 52-week job retraining programme – which the PLP proposes to discontinue –; bringing on stream and doubling the value of contracts for Bahamians in the redevelopment of Cable Beach and various ongoing infrastructural projects criticised by the PLP.”
According to Mrs. Butler-Turner, who also serves as the party’s shadow minister for labour, the Opposition is mindful that despite improving numbers, that unemployment remains too high and that many Bahamians are hurting and continuing to struggle financially.
“There is still much work to be done to improve the jobs prospects for thousands of Bahamians especially Bahamian youth,” she said.
“Accordingly, we urge the government to reconsider its reckless and ill-timed decision to discontinue the 52-week job retraining programme, which would throw many Bahamians out of work. Further, we are pleased that because of successful negotiations by the FNM, that there are more tourism and hotel-related jobs on the horizon in Grand Bahama, which preceded the PLP’s election to office.”
She explained that the FNM is pleased that the official statistics bear out that the former FNM administration was on the right track in terms of economic recovery and job growth.
“We hope that the government continues with these policies, and that it does not put the economy at risk through reckless actions and rhetoric by various cabinet ministers,” Mrs. Butler-Turner explained.
According to the statistics, women were the main contributors to this increase with their numbers growing by 3.6 per cent compared to a decline of 2.4 per cent for men.
“This is reflected in the overall participation rate which remained basically the same,” the Department of Statistics release read.
“The participation rate for women increased by1.5 percentage points while that of males fell by 1 percentage point. In both New Providence and Grand Bahama, the number of females in the total labour force and the employed labour force exceeded that of males. On the other hand, there were more unemployed males than females in both islands.”
