Bharrat Jagdeo’s employment claims

Aug 19, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Peeping tom…

Kaieteur News – Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of Guyana, recently declared with characteristic bravado that his government has created over 50,000 jobs since taking office. It was a statement delivered with such confidence that one might have assumed the evidence was irrefutable, perhaps backed by detailed labour statistics and rigorous analysis.

Yet, upon closer inspection, it becomes glaringly apparent that this claim, much like many others from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPPC) administration, rests on a foundation as flimsy as a house of cards. The truth is that the last official published labour statistics from the Bureau of Statistics dates back to the third quarter of 2021.

At that time, the country was still reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the labour market was anything but robust. The labour force participation rate was far from inspiring, and youth unemployment was a staggering 31.9%. In the absence of updated data, how can one seriously evaluate the claim that tens of thousands of jobs have since been created? The answer is simple: one cannot.

It is not merely the lack of recent data that raises eyebrows. The nature of the claim itself invites skepticism. If, as Jagdeo asserts, the economy is booming and generating such an impressive number of new jobs, why then has the government felt compelled to introduce a part-time employment programme for over 10,000 people? The very existence of such a programme suggests that the job market is not as buoyant as Jagdeo would have us believe. It hints at a deeper problem, one that the government is perhaps unwilling or unable to address.

The situation becomes even more dubious when one considers the distribution of these supposed economic opportunities. While the urban centers are experiencing robust economic activity, the reality is that the bulk of the workforce in Guyana— around 60%—resides in rural areas. If the government’s policies were truly creating jobs at the rate claimed, one would expect to see significant improvements in rural employment figures. Yet, in the absence of recent statistics, there is little to suggest that the rural workforce has benefited in any meaningful way.

Jagdeo’s pronouncement of 50,000 new jobs is, at best, suspect. It appears as a number thrown out with the hope that it will be accepted at face value, without the need for evidence or scrutiny. 50,000 is a popular number with the PPP – 50,000 house lots to be distributed by 2025 and now more than 50,000 jobs created. This approach is emblematic of the PPP/C’s broader economic narrative, which often seems more concerned with creating a perception of progress than with delivering tangible results. In the world of PPP/C economics, numbers are malleable, and reality is whatever the government says it is. But numbers, as any good economist will tell you, do not lie—unless they are manipulated. And in the absence of transparent, up-to-date labour statistics, it is impossible to take Jagdeo’s claim seriously. The lack of recent data is not a mere oversight; it is a glaring omission that calls into question the government’s entire economic narrative. It is easy to claim job creation when there is no data to contradict you. It is much harder to make such claims when the facts are laid bare for all to see.

The absence of labour statistics is not just an inconvenience; it is a serious issue that undermines the very foundation of economic policymaking. Without accurate data, how can the government make informed decisions about where to allocate resources? Can Jagdeo tell us?

How can it address the pressing issues of youth unemployment and labour force participation if it does not even know the current state of the labour market? The truth is that it cannot. And that is perhaps the most damning indictment of Jagdeo’s claim. A simple survey of recent school leavers would be able to identify just how many of them have secured employment. How hard is this to do when the secondary schools have the names and addresses of their recent graduates?

In the end, the Vice President’s assertion that more than 50,000 jobs have been created is a claim made in the absence of evidence. It is a classic example of the kind of guesswork that has come to define the PPP/C’s approach to economics—an approach that prioritizes political expediency over economic reality. But the people of Guyana deserve better. They deserve a government that is transparent and accountable, one that bases its policies on solid evidence rather than wishful thinking. They deserve to know the true state of the labour market, not just the version that is politically convenient for the government. And until the Bureau of Statistics releases updated labour statistics, any claim about job creation must be taken with a grain of salt.

Jagdeo’s claim of 50,000 new jobs is a manifestation of the government’s penchant for throwing out numbers without validation. It is a claim that, upon closer examination, dissolves into nothingness, leaving behind only questions and doubts. Where are the jobs? Who has benefited from this supposed boom? And why, if the economy is indeed thriving, does the government feel the need to prop it up with part-time employment programmes?

These are questions that demand answers. But as long as the government continues to not publish crucial labour statistics, those answers will remain elusive. Until proven otherwise, Jagdeo’s 50,000 jobs will remain what they appear to be: a number plucked out of thin air, as insubstantial as the very data meant to support it.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

 

 

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, COVID-19, economics, f PPP/C, Guyana, pandemic, programme, Vice President

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