DLP labour spokesman not convinced unemployment figures accurate

Democratic Labour Party (DLP) spokesman on labour matters Walter Maloney is questioning the Central Bank Governor’s report that unemployment has fallen to an almost 16-year low of 7.2 per cent.
He told Barbados TODAY on Thursday that figure “did not make sense” given the hardship citizens continued to face.
Delivering his first economic review since taking up the post of Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Dr Kevin Greenidge declared on Wednesday that growth in the tourism sector had spilled over into the other sectors of the economy, “resulting in the unemployment rate falling by 3.7 percentage points to 7.2 per cent at the end of 2022, relative to 2021”.
“This unemployment rate is the lowest on record since September 2007,” he said.
However, Maloney was not convinced.
“If you are saying that the unemployment rate is down but the minister responsible for welfare agencies is saying there is a marked increase of persons visiting the Welfare Department looking for help from the Government, that is one indicator that something isn’t right because if you are working you are not going to visit that department,” he said.
“If you are saying that there are 20 000 cases backlogged in the National Insurance Scheme for unemployment and severance, that is another factor. If the environment is so good, why is government continuing to offer three-, four- and six-month contracts to people?”
The DLP spokesman said what Dr Greenidge reported did not match the reality on the ground.
“And that is my major concern. If you talk to young people who just left secondary and tertiary school, who are actively looking for work, they cannot find any jobs,” he contended.
Maloney acknowledged that during the winter season, many people are able to find jobs in the hotel industry due to the large numbers of tourists coming in.
However, he said, during the leaner summer period, those individuals often found themselves on the breadline once again.
“It is not a continuous employment where persons can say they will work for the next two and a half years without being laid off,” the former union head added.
The Central Bank Governor reported that the Barbados economy expanded 6.4 per cent for the first three months of this year, its eighth consecutive quarter of expansion.
He said that was led by the tourism sector which was estimated to have recorded about 78 per cent of the 2019 record arrivals of 208 774 long-stay visitors.
Dr Greenidge predicted further economic growth of between 4 and 5 per cent this year.
(JB)