According to the latest statistics released by the Bahamas National Statistical Institute the unemployment rate stood at 8.8% in May 2023.
Director of Labour Robert Farquharson has commented on the latest numbers saying, “as a result of Hurricane Dorian and obviously COVID-19 occurring on the heals of Hurricane Dorian the unemployment rate in Grand Bahama in particular was extremely high. We know a significant amount of men and women left Grand Bahama to travel to Abaco, travel to Bimini, travel to Exuma, travel to New Providence seeking employment opportunities, that trend is now reversing.”
According to Farquharson the Department of Labour has been able to match over 3,000 people with jobs. “I think that went directly to the reduction in the unemployment rate notwithstanding that fact of Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19,” he said.
The Labour Director also spoke to the Department’s efforts in the granting of permission for the hiring of foreign workers. He said, “a number of persons would have applied to the Department of Labour for non Bahamians to do things in Grand Bahama that we feel Bahamians are qualified to do. We denied those applications. We identified unemployed persons in Grand Bahama and we would have advised the employers here of some resumes of people who are trained, who are available and its that type of effort that has caused the unemployment rate in Grand Bahama to be reduced.”
Bahamians in search of employments are encouraged to sign up with the Department of Labour.
