The continuing economic uncertainty has hiked the country’s present unemployment rate to about nine percent, according to the latest employment statistics.<\/P><\/p>\n
Assistant Director of Labour Dorothy Godet said yesterday that the employment rate still remains “stable.” Ms. Godet said earlier in the 2002, unemployment stood at just over 7 percent.<\/P><\/p>\n
Today, Cypreanna Winters, a statistician in the Department of Statistics, said that the rate of unemployment now stands at 9.1 percent.<\/P><\/p>\n
The Department of Labour, meanwhile, continues to work to assistant unemployed persons find jobs, Ms. Godet said.<\/P><\/p>\n
She said last month, the department received over 300 applications for jobs, 200 of which were referred. Of this number, some 50 persons have already been placed on various worksites.<\/P><\/p>\n
But despite the uncertainty, according to Ms. Godet, Bahamians are not yet losing their jobs at an alarming rate.<\/P><\/p>\n
There have been a number of redundancies reported in recent weeks, particularly in the hotel sector.<\/P><\/p>\n
The government, meanwhile, has placed a freeze on hiring in response to the situation.<\/P><\/p>\n
Just recently, the government also ordered its various ministries and departments to cut back on spending by five percent.<\/P><\/p>\n
Officials, meanwhile, point out that there are several professions that are in demand.<\/P><\/p>\n
Ms. Godet said that while she would not discourage school children from studying accounts and other important subjects, there is a great demand for both construction workers and security officers at the moment, particularly considering the ongoing construction at the Emerald Bay Resort in Exuma.
<\/p>\n
But according to Karish Lightfoot, office manager of Executive Security Services Ltd., while there is a need for additional officers, it is difficult to find qualified persons to fill those jobs.<\/P><\/p>\n
Her company alone has openings for 20 security guards.<\/P><\/p>\n
Ms. Lightfoot said a security officer must be over 5 feet 7 inches tall, heavy built, and a high school graduate with good writing and communication skills. At the same time she said, such a person must also take his or her job seriously.<\/P><\/p>\n
“Many persons do not appreciate the job of a security officer,” she told the Bahama Journal today.<\/P><\/p>\n
“Security officers are not simply watchdogs or persons who guard a particular property, but someone who must be able to work with the public and detect certain things. So, it always seems tricky to find a person fitting all these characteristics nowadays.”<\/P><\/p>\n
Ms. Lightfoot added that with the present state of the economy, there is also the issue of businesses not offering an acceptable pay scale.<\/P><\/p>\n
“Security officers are generally underpaid,” Ms Lightfoot said. “Depending on the business, they receive between $4 and $7 an hour.”<\/P><\/p>\n
Assistant Executive and Financial Controller of No-Tolerant Security & Investigations, Elizabeth Sargeant added that the recently implemented 40-hour workweek also poses a problem for persons hoping to join the security profession.<\/P><\/p>\n
“There is always a need for security officers but many of them refuse to work 40 hours a week,” she said. “They seem to rather not work at all and very few people are interested. Many view this simply as a job and not a profession, perhaps because they feel intimated by not being able to carry a gun.”
\n
By Macushla Pinder, The Bahama Journal <\/B><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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