Unemployment In The Bahamian Economy

Unemployment is probably the greatest problem facing the Bahamian economy and has been an ongoing macroeconomic issue for a while now. Unemployment is normally used as an indicator of a country’s economic well-being because it contributes to our Gross Domestic Product. Unemployment happens when someone cannot find a job while actively seeking employment. Unemployment Rate figures are reported by the Bahamas Department of Statistics and it measures the number of people looking for a job divided by a percentage of the labor force. Unemployment ranged from a low of 6.90 in 2000 to a high of 15.4 percent in November 2013; this disparity shows that unemployment is not only a prevalent and persistent issue but also a very important one. The unemployment

An individual may be frictionally unemployed because of the search time between people searching for desirable jobs and businesses looking for desirable workers. Understandably, some people may not take their job offer and similarly, businesses may not hire their first interviewee. Economists believe that some frictional unemployment will always be present in economy where people are constantly losing or leaving their jobs. Sometimes, people can be structurally unemployed because they lack the skills needed to perform a particular job. There might also be a mismatch between jobs available and skills of the unemployed. The Bahamas may be adversely affected when there is an economic downturn or a recession and as a result, Bahamians may also be out of work. In short, cyclical unemployment cause of Bahamians being unemployed. Season unemployment happens as a result of irregular employment seasons or labor demand and this type of unemployment tends to have more effects on particular industries than others. For instance, construction workers may only have a job when something needs to be constructed. Individuals may also be without a job because they are “discouraged workers,” they may have been laid off or fired or they may have simply quit

In The Bahamas, we have too many lower scale hotel workers and not enough trained to be in the management levels in every aspect. A feasible solution to this would be job training. The government can implement a job training institution (for a free or a small fee) where people can acquire the necessary tools and skills needed for their desired job position. Therefore, individuals would be properly trained and ready to perform their jobs effectively. The population is limited in its scope of job markets. For example, everyone wants to be a doctor, lawyer, and accountant. What about medical technician, marine technicians, agronomists, ornithologist’s ichthyologists, captains? Bahamians must aspire to be diverse in their career goals so they would not have an issue finding a job after graduating college or university. Specialists are needed in particular fields and we must be cognizant of this fact. In The Bahamas, persons are typically hired off of “who they know” and not “what they know.” This has to change. Employers must stray away from job discrimination such as homosexuality, age, race, weight and more and hire people based strictly off of their skills and not