BUSINESS MONDAY: No new job gains?

JOBLESS growth!

That appears to be the conclusion from the limited growth which the Barbados economy registered in the second quarter of this year.

Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Cleviston Haynes, reported that the economy grew by an estimated 5.5 per cent during the second quarter, indicative of an emerging mild recovery.

However, there were no reports of new job gains coming from the Central Bank of Barbados, leaving one to speculate that while some growth materialised, employment did not improve

as ought to be the case in such circumstances, according to a local analyst.

“The improved performance between April and June reflects the gradual easing of travel restrictions and higher domestic private sector spending relative to last year when the economy was under lockdown for much of the quarter,” Haynes said.

He noted that some displaced workers have returned to work, but given the level of activity over the past year, there has been increased incidence of part-time work.

Haynes also said that new unemployment claims for 2021 spiked in February, but for the first six months of 2021, they were over 10,000 fewer claims than for the same period in 2020.

Overall, economic activity for the period January to June was 9.0 per cent lower, following on from the 18 per cent drop in 2020.

In relation to the labour market, the Governor said that the weak economic activity continued to place pressure on employment levels.

The most recent estimate of the Barbados Statistical Service is that during the first quarter when the economy was under the National Pause, 107,700 persons were employed and the unemployment rate was 17.2 per cent.

However, that rate of unemployment has been rejected in some quarters in Barbados. Outspoken Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn said two weeks ago in the Upper House that the rate is higher than the 17.2 per cent.

“When you look at the amount of people who went home from tourism, unless the tourism industry is employing two or three per cent of the workforce in Barbados, that is the only way we would have such low numbers in unemployment,” said Franklyn, who is also a trade unionist.