More hands for the labour market but no jobs

Aug 31, 2010 Editorial

A new school year begins. At the same time there are at least 12,000 who will no longer be attending school, and are therefore candidates for the world of work. All this is happening when the labour market is soft and at a time when not enough entrepreneurs are spending money in the economy.
Over the years there has always been a limit to the number of people who could be absorbed into the state-run workplace. Some of the better ones would have been employed in the public service to replace those who would have ventured into retirement. Others would have done the same to cope with the expansion that usually takes place in any society.
However, the labour market in Guyana has contracted for a variety of reasons. One reason is rooted in a determination by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which, as is usual, suggested that the labour force be cut to reduce public spending. And this was done.
The government at the time was in the throes of the IMF and desperately needed developmental assistance. It accepted the recommendation although, to the credit of the administration, the job cuts did not go as deep as the IMF requested.
The IMF almost never takes into consideration the social consequences of job cuts. Perhaps it uses the yardstick adopted by the United States, although the two economies are markedly different. In the United States, people who are cut get unemployed benefits for a certain period. If they are at the age of retirement then they get a lump sum payment and when they attain the age of 65, their social security kicks in. This is indeed a substantial payment on which an individual can live.
The younger ones find jobs with the various entities, depending on their skills and qualifications. Guyana is not so endowed, so the older people may get a pension that is less than thirty-three per cent of what they earned and depending on their National Insurance Scheme contributions and their last salary, they will also get a certain payment.
However, the younger ones do not have much of a choice. In the first instance, there is still a wage freeze in the public service, so there is not much a young person could hope for there.
There is the teaching profession, of which Education Minister Shaik Baksh boasts that there has been a record number of applications for the coming semester — 1,500. The Guyana Police Force is short, as is the Guyana Defence Force, but there is no rush by young people to join these institutions.
Many will be left in the wilderness. The Ministry of Labour announced that it placed 900 people in jobs during last year. That is less than ten per cent of those who are now out on the streets hunting employment.
The statistics are frightening for more reasons than one. There is always something for idle hands, and whatever it is, the result is certainly not pleasant. The various small enterprises are flooded with people seeking jobs, but they can only take so much.
A few of the better qualified seek employment in the media houses, but without the requisite skills many do not make it.
In the past, the Guyana National Service accommodated many young people and imparted skills that stood them in good stead. Some went on to become prominent people—Paul Slowe became Assistant Commissioner of Police.
However, there is no National Service, except a watered down version that caters for a very few underprivileged children.
Some parents, recognizing the problem, would be sending their children to special schools such as the Carnegie School of Home Economics, with the hope that they could start their own businesses or get involved in the hotel industry. Others would seek out the technical schools, but even these drives would not accommodate more than twenty per cent of the school leavers.
It is a worrying time. Parents who are already hard pressed to make ends meet would become frustrated that another hand is not there to ease the financial burden. And in the city, there is more guaranteed work for the police.