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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
Economist Professor Roger Hosein, is noting with concern what appears to be an increase in the unemployment rate, as stated by the 2024 labor force report.

He was speaking with Tv6 on Thursday.
Transcript
00:00Professor Hosain notes the situation with serious concern and says it can spell trouble
00:07moving ahead if not addressed.
00:09He says the line minister should examine the figures closely.
00:13The labour force group is increasing and in fact in terms of the time period 1991 to 2024
00:23the data shows that it is at the highest ever.
00:25That is not good.
00:26We need, this would have implications for dependency ratios in the country and therefore
00:32I have been, I think it's a good idea for the Minister of Labour to take a really deep
00:38dive look at what is going on in the labour market in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:43He is warning that if the situation persists it can lead to greater issues and strain in
00:49terms of productivity and foreign exchange earnings.
00:53So I hope policy makers are connecting all these dots behind these scenes and just simply
00:58not talking about it so we don't know, but to me I am seeing an emerging problem or even
01:03bigger problem arising between the changes in the labour market and the consequential
01:09development in the structure of production and by extension then the changes in the foreign
01:14exchange market.
01:16Professor Hosain also examines the impact of immigrants on the unemployment statistics.
01:21When we don't register the Venezuelans they end up working in the informal part of the
01:26non-tradable sector in bars and casinos and in those kind of places and therefore what
01:33they end up doing is skewing the structure of production away from tradable goods which
01:39could produce foreign exchange towards non-tradable goods which is generally intensive in the
01:44use of foreign exchange.
01:46Hosain also notes the $9 billion budget deficit and suggests there may be a connection to
01:53the statistics.
01:54You have already heard the Minister of Finance announce that 2024 we may see a fiscal deficit
02:00of $9 billion.
02:01That's a huge fiscal deficit and therefore labour now has to be looked at closer.
02:09Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.
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