Tufton questions jump in number of youths not seeking work
BY BALFORD HENRY Observer writer
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
SENATOR Christopher Tufton wants the Statistical Institute (STATIN) and the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to explain why official figures show that while unemployment is being reduced, the number of young people not seeking work continues to grow.
Tufton, speaking in the State of the Nation debate in the Senate on Friday, said that according to the Labour Force Survey, of over 665,000 persons listed in the age group 14 years old and over, 325,000 or nearly half of that figure were listed as "not seeking work". This, he said, has increased from 288,000 in 2002 and 301,000 in 2003.
"For me it is not coincidence that, as this category expands, the official unemployment statistics are declining," the Opposition Jamaica Labour party senator said.
He said that many of the "well trumpeted" foreign direct investments were merely a change in ownership and, while they were welcomed in terms of preventing a shutdown of the businesses, "let us not fool ourselves into believing that these investments" are creating new jobs.
Said Tufton: "More evidently, we exist in a country where the most common sight on any street corner in rural or urban Jamaica are young men with very little to do, doing actually nothing, yet the statistics coming out of the government agency conveys an impressions that we are solving the unemployment problem."
Tufton made it clear that he was not casting aspersions on the credibility of the figures provided by the official research agency, STATIN, as it relates to the definition they use to collect the data."I am, however, challenging the interpretation of these numbers based on the very definition that is used," he said.
Tufton said that the definition of the Labour Force used by STATIN includes all employed persons as well as persons who, although unemployed, were looking for work, or wanted work or were in a position to accept work."The figure in October, 2005 stood at 1.19 million people.
However, many questions arise when the status of persons 14 years old and over, who are not in school, are not homemakers, have not indicated that they stay home to take care of others, are not incapacitated and unable to work, but are not employed and are listed as not seeking work.
The persons, according to the definition, are outside the labour force and, therefore, are not included in the unemployment statistics," said the senator.
He said that of a population of over 665,000 people who are 14 years old and older, 325,000 were in the "did not want to work" category and placed outside the labour force.
"I believe they are collecting and grouping data based on specific definitions," Tufton said. "However. given these definitions of what constitutes the labour force, that is 'someone actively seeking work,' in an environment with all the ills listed earlier, people can be frustrated out of this category and, therefore, not considered as unemployed although they are not gainfully engaged. In fact, I believe many have."
"I see it every day. A 19 year-old youth, no skill, no job, no hope, no job search; an 18 year-old girl, same thing; or a 20 year-old youth selling sweets or washing cars on the roadside, as far as he is concerned he is employed. He is not actively seeking work. That is the reality that we face.
© 2000-2001 Jamaica Observer.
BY BALFORD HENRY Observer writer
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
SENATOR Christopher Tufton wants the Statistical Institute (STATIN) and the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to explain why official figures show that while unemployment is being reduced, the number of young people not seeking work continues to grow.
Tufton, speaking in the State of the Nation debate in the Senate on Friday, said that according to the Labour Force Survey, of over 665,000 persons listed in the age group 14 years old and over, 325,000 or nearly half of that figure were listed as "not seeking work". This, he said, has increased from 288,000 in 2002 and 301,000 in 2003.
"For me it is not coincidence that, as this category expands, the official unemployment statistics are declining," the Opposition Jamaica Labour party senator said.
He said that many of the "well trumpeted" foreign direct investments were merely a change in ownership and, while they were welcomed in terms of preventing a shutdown of the businesses, "let us not fool ourselves into believing that these investments" are creating new jobs.
Said Tufton: "More evidently, we exist in a country where the most common sight on any street corner in rural or urban Jamaica are young men with very little to do, doing actually nothing, yet the statistics coming out of the government agency conveys an impressions that we are solving the unemployment problem."
Tufton made it clear that he was not casting aspersions on the credibility of the figures provided by the official research agency, STATIN, as it relates to the definition they use to collect the data."I am, however, challenging the interpretation of these numbers based on the very definition that is used," he said.
Tufton said that the definition of the Labour Force used by STATIN includes all employed persons as well as persons who, although unemployed, were looking for work, or wanted work or were in a position to accept work."The figure in October, 2005 stood at 1.19 million people.
However, many questions arise when the status of persons 14 years old and over, who are not in school, are not homemakers, have not indicated that they stay home to take care of others, are not incapacitated and unable to work, but are not employed and are listed as not seeking work.
The persons, according to the definition, are outside the labour force and, therefore, are not included in the unemployment statistics," said the senator.
He said that of a population of over 665,000 people who are 14 years old and older, 325,000 were in the "did not want to work" category and placed outside the labour force.
"I believe they are collecting and grouping data based on specific definitions," Tufton said. "However. given these definitions of what constitutes the labour force, that is 'someone actively seeking work,' in an environment with all the ills listed earlier, people can be frustrated out of this category and, therefore, not considered as unemployed although they are not gainfully engaged. In fact, I believe many have."
"I see it every day. A 19 year-old youth, no skill, no job, no hope, no job search; an 18 year-old girl, same thing; or a 20 year-old youth selling sweets or washing cars on the roadside, as far as he is concerned he is employed. He is not actively seeking work. That is the reality that we face.
© 2000-2001 Jamaica Observer.
