Dear Editor,
Reports are that the unemployment rate is 12.5%, as based on the 2012 census figures. I must confess to some uncertainty as to what this really means.
First, is the 12.5% rate for 2016? Second, if it is for 2016, how can it be based on numbers (denominators) from four years ago? Third, what utility, what confidence does such a number instil in terms of meaning? Fourth, what definition of unemployment was used? Is it part-time, half-time, or full-time? Now, 12.5%, as based on the 2012 census might be helpful, if only to furnish a baseline. Yet I think it also obscures.
Starting from, but not including, the year 2012, I focus on 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. There would have been approximately forty thousand high school leavers, and another five thousand tertiary finishers. Surely, many of these once full-time students were/are seeking work, with or without success, especially given the hiring horizon.
Editor, what is the story with this not inconsiderable number of likely job seekers? In view of a bleak job environment, I think that some accounting, and some inclusion, of these would swell that 12.5% number. If half or two-thirds of these some forty-five thousand graduating students in the last four years are unoccupied, then it becomes obvious that today, in 2016, the unemployment number is anything north of 12.5%. It would be unrealistic to believe that most of them found work. This is a troubling reality still not openly acknowledged in this country.
When reference is made to known demographics, and with an emphasis on the youth presence, I dare say that the unemployment number may be more pronounced among this lot, a great number of which would be in the forty-five thousand identified. This is not a purely Guyanese concern, but indicative of what prevails across the region.
I recall reading a while back right here in SN where a Jamaican official asserted that youth unemployment in his domain could be as high as a staggering 50%. This is disturbing in its implications, whether in Jamaica, or anywhere else.
So, once again, what is the accurate overall unemployment situation here in Guyana right now? That would be right now in 2016? How significant is it among the younger ones whose ranks are added to every year? And how close is it to the corresponding Jamaican circumstances? I think the first step is to put clear and clean cards on the table. There must be no haziness, no ambiguity, and no equivocating; the situation is worrying as it stands.
The second step is to come up with policies, plans, and strategies dedicated to whittling away at this thorny issue. The nation has to hear and learn more of this, and continually. It must be faced head on and honestly, if inroads are going to be made. This cannot be an occasional, backburner issue, but one afforded attention and priority at the highest levels.
Last, if I have misinterpreted matters I ask to be pardoned.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
