NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Roughly 40 percent of the Bahamian workforce is locked in a waiting game as businesses must reckon with furloughed workers on or before the end of unemployment assistance programs this month.
Director of Labour John Pinder told Eyewitness News yesterday the country’s economy will remain on life support until its critical industry, Tourism, can be resuscitated.
Pinder noted some businesses have slowly begun to bring workers back with the ease of restrictions but predicted many businesses will likely run down the deadline as they monitor the effect of the phased reopening.
He said businesses have until the end of September to make a decision whether to cut workers.
“We look at the numbers of people that went for unemployment assistance and unemployment benefit, then we look at numbers prior to pandemic which was 11 percent,” he said.
‘’When you add to the amount of people who got unemployment and look at the total work force that’s how you get an estimated number (40 percent).”
Pinder maintained the bulk of furloughed workers are jobs linked to the Tourism industry.
“It affects mostly tourism industry: hotels, restaurants, beach vendors, taxi and tour drivers, hair braiders, all those,” he said.
“The tourism industry depends on tourism, as long as the airports are closed and no tourists coming then we will still have some challenges. At least the local economy is opening and some businesses are reopening but unless airports and cruise lines are coming to The Bahamas – we depend on tourism. It’s still our number one industry.”
Pinder said: “The country economy will still be on life support until we get the tourism industry up and running or a new industry comes into play and people start to benefit – which ain’t gonna happen no time soon.
He continued: “I mean in terms of getting a substitute for tourism. It’s probably going to take another year or two to start diversifying and all of those things we think will help.
Pinder urged Bahamians to explore jobs in agriculture and marine resources.
“While we wait for the tourism product to get back on stream, we have to start looking at these other things,” he added.
Suggest government needs to look at invest in more disney private tourism lease more isld cays which will have less native contact ..but will also pump money s in the public purse
Why would you encourage the government to pump money in Disney private islands that the local workforce or country will not benifit from? It’s a private island, a private company and there money will only circulate with them. Time to start thinking when you look at our country about the benefits for the people and the nation. We have to circulate the wealth in the commonwealth of the Bahamas, that spirit of foreign owning the nation must be stumped out the Bahamas in order for this nation to survive. A new Bahamas is about to rise out of the ashes, the old ideology will sufficate this nation. When you think of the Bahamas as a citizen and a patriot you think of ways the country and the people can benifit and stop throwing money at the wind the Bahamas the people suffered enough of that from my grandma and grandpa days
Your own PM don’t make plans for Bahamians only, obviously anything good in there comes from foreign investors because your own government don’t use the money and resources to make there a better place for Bahamians, it is not bad to say that 90% of the Bahamas is poverty and run by very poor management. Reality is you need the education and knowledge from countries more advanced then the Bahamas. It is below third world country in there and if you don’t have that tourists or that foreign investors you are screwed!