Youth unemployment continues to create concerns for Government.
Minister of Labour, Senator Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo, revealed that while general unemployment numbers continue to fall, those related to young people continue to rise.
In fact, as she addressed the opening of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) 75th Annual Delegates’ Conference at Solidarity House on Saturday, the minister said that youth unemployment is three times higher than the general unemployment rate.
According to the Barbados Statistical Service for the first quarter of 2016, the unemployment rate stood at 9.3 per cent, a decrease from 10.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2015.
In its bid to confront this, she outlined that the Government had been taking a serious relook at how to deal with the issue, including that of ensuring that young people could meet the requirements for new emerging sectors.
“We have observed the need for new skills through the emergence of new sectors such as renewable energy; oil and gas; the cultural industries; and the expansion of traditional sectors such as information technology and auto-mechanics,” she stated, and noted that through the recognition of a need for new tools and training modalities to facilitate the implementation of these skills, had therefore executed a number of relevant initiatives over the past five years.
“Under the ambit of the Barbados Human Resource Development Strategy; the Inter-American Development Bank-funded Skills for the Future Programme; and now the strengthening Human and
Social Development Programme, two major outcomes of these programmes will be timely and accurate labour market information on the skills needed in industry and the dedicated provision of training and employment services for the most vulnerable in society,” the senator added. (JMB)
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