It would be prudent for Caribbean countries to assess not just the rates of unemployment and job recovery, but also information pertaining to the calibre of jobs and what percentage remain informal.
This is the urging of Caribbean Employment Services Inc., a market-leading digital talent acquisition service that aims to connect the top talent from the Caribbean with hiring managers, HR professionals and decision-makers in companies both within the Caribbean as well as abroad.
As the COVID-19 pandemic slowly makes its way to a final end, many Caribbean countries are experiencing an economic rebound – even faster than international organizations like the World Bank once predicted. It’s not uncommon to see statistic organizations and governing bodies report low unemployment figures, lauding their tireless efforts during one of the most unprecedented and economically devastating periods of modern history.
These statistics can be encouraging and reflect a positive, welcome change in circumstance for the thousands of people who are once again able to earn a living and provide for their families. However, one of the biggest lessons of the pandemic for most Caribbean countries was just how vulnerable even seemingly secure jobs can be. Further, informal employment has skyrocketed since the pandemic, exacerbating these kinds of vulnerabilities.
In light of this, Caribbean Employment Services Inc. believes that there should be more of an effort for employment statistics to include data on what quality of jobs are being recovered, how stable they are and whether they are formal or informal jobs.
Blanket statistics about low unemployment may appear encouraging on the surface, but if the majority of those recovered jobs are informal then that leaves populations vulnerable to the kind of external shocks that the COVID pandemic should have taught the importance of avoiding.
Additionally, while many Caribbean nations have also increased their national minimum wages, a minimum wage is often not equivalent to a livable wage. If most jobs being recovered are minimum wage rather than high-quality, high-paying, stable jobs, that could also be an indication that more must be done to provide skills training and equal opportunities for higher positions; improve recruitment for public and private sector jobs; increase efforts to prioritize hiring of local residents.
Low unemployment can be indicative of economic growth, which is something Caribbean Employment Services Inc. supports and is encouraged by overall, as we also do our part to help improve that figure. At the same time, we also believe that providing more information about the kind of jobs being made available, and who is being hired for those positions, should also be closely assessed, as well as it should inform future action accordingly.