{"id":35826,"date":"2013-05-22T09:17:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T13:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=35826"},"modified":"2013-05-22T09:17:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T13:17:25","slug":"pinder-sub-set-of-bahamians-are-unemployable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/05\/pinder-sub-set-of-bahamians-are-unemployable","title":{"rendered":"Pinder: ‘Sub-Set Of Bahamians Are Unemployable’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An MP has admitted there is \u201ca sub-set of Bahamians\u201d who are unemployable, due to the absence of job skills or being \u201cscarred for life\u201d by previous criminal convictions.<\/p>\n

Emphasising that he was not speaking in his Cabinet position, Ryan Pinder, minister of financial services, conceded that he was confronted with this reality every day in his Elizabeth constituency.<\/p>\n

Responding to a question at a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) luncheon, Mr Pinder described his constituency as arguably the most diverse in this nation when it came to the economic backgrounds of residents.<\/p>\n

Agreeing that the Bahamas had to be realistic, and \u201cconfront reality\u201d, the Minister candidly conceded: \u201cWe have a sub-set of Bahamians who do not have the technical skills to be employable. I can tell you as an MP that is the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some in this \u201csub-set\u201d lacked the necessary skills, and workplace ethic and attitude, Mr Pinder said others were hampered by previous criminal convictions. Unable to produce a clean police certificate, they were immediately rejected by Bahamian employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know of a strapping young man who can\u2019t get a job because he was convicted years ago for forging bank cheques,\u201d Mr Pinder said. \u201cOne error, and he\u2019s scarred for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emphasising that he was not excusing or condoning such behaviour, Mr Pinder said the inability of young Bahamian men to get a job due to their past mistakes inevitably meant many – proud, yet unable to feed their families legitimately – turned to crime to do so.<\/p>\n

This was exacerbated by the Bahamas\u2019 clogged court system. Mr Pinder said many were \u201cmore willing to [turn to crime] as they know the justice system never runs its course in a timely fashion, and they will get out and be OK. They won\u2019t turn to crime if they know the justice system works\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Minister\u2019s comments illuminate the other side of the Immigration\/work permit debate, namely that a significant (albeit a minority) section of Bahamian society is effectively planning itself out of their economy.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurial and employment opportunities are passing them by, and their lack of suitability for the workplace is another factor behind employers looking overseas to fill key positions.<\/p>\n

An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report recently revealed almost two-thirds of employee firings in the Bahamas stem from \u2018behaviour problems\u2019, finding that \u201cthe lack of skills\u201d among workers is the main barrier to their hiring.<\/p>\n

The report, \u2018In Pursuit of Employable Skills: Understanding Employer\u2019s Demands\u2019, found that 62 per cent of the Bahamian companies it surveyed had either dismissed or seen employees resign in 2010-2011.<\/p>\n

Noting that the \u2018mean\u2019, or average, was for companies to see five dismissals and three resignations, the IDB study added: \u201cThe most commonly cited reason for staff dismissals was \u2018problems with behaviour\u2019 (65 per cent).\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Pinder told BCCEC members that the Bahamas had to \u201crecognise reality and cause the proper technical development of our young people, particularly our young men\u201d, to take place.<\/p>\n

Apart from training, Mr Pinder said the solution also required economic growth. With 5,000 students graduating from high school every year, even assuming 50 per cent (probably a generous number) go on to tertiary education, the Bahamian workforce swells by at least 2,500-3,000 each summer.<\/p>\n

Their numbers add to the existing 13.7 per cent unemployment rate, with 41,000 Bahamians either already jobless or not actively seeking work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can only get jobs if the economy grows,\u201d Mr Pinder said. \u201cThe economy has been stagnant for 10 years, and the population is growing every year.”<\/p>\n

By Neil Hartnell<\/em><\/span>
\nTribune Business Editor<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Original News Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder has admitted that there is \u201ca sub-set of Bahamians\u201d who are unemployable, due to the absence of job skills. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[29,72,1677],"class_list":["post-35826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-economy","tag-employment","tag-job-skills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}