Honourable Fitzgerald Bramble, Member of Parliament for East Kingstown, has expressed strong criticism of the remarks made by Honourable Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Finance, in the article published on Iwitness News captioned ‘Low unemployment cushioning falling remittances’.
Mr Bramble commented in an address on the New Democratic Party’s Facebook page. He said: “Am here to talk about an article published in Iwitness News highlighting comments made by the Minister of Finance of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Honourable Camelo Gonsalves, where he talks about low unemployment, cushioning falling remittances in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. His comments are utter rubbish, total nonsense, and paints a very unrealistic picture of the unemployment situation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The minister said that St Vincent and the Grenadines is experiencing its highest rate of employment in the history of this country since slavery. But what baffled me is that the minister essentially is saying or essentially said that the only time we had higher employment in this country prior to now is during slavery. And I would give him the benefit of the doubt to think that he just doesn’t understand the phenomenon of slavery. There was no employment during slavery. Our people were totally devastated and treated as subhumans. So, the minister needs to go and retract that comment.
But that is not really the focus of my response to him. The focus of my response has to do with what he said. He said we are experiencing the highest rate of employment in this country’s history. And I am categorically denying and refuting that and I will go further to say that we are experiencing the highest rate of unemployment in this country certainly since independence in 1979.
If the minister is going to make such sweeping comments and conclusions, he must provide the evidence to support what he’s saying. Since 2016 about nine years ago that was the last time any credible Labour Force survey was done. The minister said he has the data to support what he’s saying now, but he needs to produce the evidence, produce the data, produce the source of that data. Who conducted whatever survey to provide that information? Was it credible? And the method that was used to provide that information, was it an internationally accepted method?
He talked about the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and using that as a proxy to present evidence to show the level of employment. He said that our labour force right now is about 60,000 persons based on NIS. And, he further went on to say that of those 60,000 persons in the labour force, we have about 45,000 who are working. So, it stands to reason that if you have a 60,000-labour force, and you only have 45,000 working, then it means that 15,000 are not working. The last time I checked, 15,000 was 25 % of 60,000. So based on what the minister is saying, we really have a 25 % rate of unemployment.
But the issue is further, how do you determine your labour force? Your labour force is basically people between 15 and 64 who are either working, and are looking for a job, actively seeking work. So, if you’re not actively seeking work, it means that you’re not in the labour force. So technically, the number of persons in St. Vincent and the Grenadines of working age who are not working, in addition to the official unemployment rate is even higher. And there’s no mechanism in this country to determine whether or not somebody is looking for a job.
Where’s the mechanism to figure out? Well, somebody applied here, or another person sent in their resume there. So it’s all conjecture, it’s all a guess game. And until the minister can come and tell us and provide the evidence to show that what he is saying is true. I mean, how preposterous, how ridiculous of the minister to come and say that our unemployment rate right now is bordering on single digits. Does he live in another world? Seriously?
Then he came and said, in addition to that, that contractors are complaining that they can’t find workers. Well, tell us why not? Is it a problem of so many people on poor relief that they don’t care to go and look for work or make themselves available? Is it an issue of so many of our people leaving and going overseas to work so you don’t have people to draw from the labour force here the required number of workers? Is it a problem that their skills don’t match what is required? Or is it a problem of people are just psychologically and socially discouraged when they look at their neighbours who are making much better wages, much more money for doing the same job? Or maybe they’re working for salaries and wages here, which really can’t even help them to make ends meet.
Before you go and make these pronouncements and say, well, even the persons who don’t want to work and the figure is close to single digits. You must have the evidence to support what you’re saying. The last Labour Force survey was done in 2016. The last Population Census was done around 2012. The last Poverty Assessment was done in 2008. So we have no credible evidence, no credible data on which to rely and verify what the Minister of Finance is saying. It’s all bogus information.
And until he can verify that, we ought to dispel what he’s saying and discard what he’s saying. The bottom line is this. The unity Labour Party government has failed to provide jobs, sustainable jobs, for the people of this country. The New Democratic Party will make sure that we provide jobs for our people, better paying jobs than what they’re getting now. And we will make sure that the lives of our people are improved.”
