Dear Editor,
Guyana needs a multipronged job creation strategy to lower the unemployment rate. There are various ways that the government of the day can create jobs.
They can reduce interest rates as this will enable companies to borrow money to finance expansion at lower rates of interests; spend on public works as this will create jobs in the construction industry; spend money on unemployment benefits as the unemployed will spend their money on goods and services resulting in job creation; and cut business taxes for new hires as this will reduce the unemployment rate.
At the moment, there is high unemployment due to job skills mismatch, changing expectations of the workforce, mobility limitations and remittances (people getting money from abroad so they feel that they do not need to work).
Telling people to “become entrepreneurs” is not a job creation strategy especially when people lack the skills and finances to do so.
Yours faithfully,
Sean Ori
