–as government moves to further cushion the impact of rising cost of living

GOVERNMENT will this year provide some 8,000 temporary jobs to Guyanese countrywide in an effort to further assist them to cope with the increase in cost of living due mainly to the effects of COVID-19.

This is according to Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, who rolled out the temporary jobs programme on the Essequibo Coast on Tuesday. There, some 800 persons will be employed in the next three weeks.
Persons on the programme are expected to work three to four days per week, and will be employed at government offices and institutions.

The programme is geared at supplementing income at the family level as government works to structurally change the job markets outside of Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

“We are trying, structurally, to change it by co-investing; setting aside money in this budget to co-invest with business so you have a more private sector investment in jobs and creation of jobs… And the reason we have to do so is that we have to incentivise private capital to move to these regions outside of just everyone wanting to come to Regions Three and Four now. We got to get them to move to Regions Two, Five, Six, and 10 and the hinterland regions,” he said.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had promised to create 50,000 jobs in its first term in office, and since its assumption of power in August 2020, the party has been working diligently to fulfil its Manifesto commitments to the people, Vice-President Jagdeo said.

On assumption of office, the PPP/C Government was confronted with the situation where some 30,000 persons had lost their jobs under the APNU+AFC Government, and another 40,000 more when the Coalition Government closed the country at the advent of COVID-19.

The country, at the time, Mr. Jagdeo also pointed out, was ill-equipped to tackle the virus, and the Dr. Irfaan-Ali Administration had to move quickly to build capacity for testing, buying protective gear, masks, expanding ICU capacity, and acquiring vaccines from available sources.

And it did so while opting to keep the economy open. Today, Mr. Jagdeo said, the COVID-19 restrictions have been removed, and thousands who lost their jobs are now employed.

SITUATION CHANGED
From searching for employment, the situation has now changed to the extent that there are shortages of skilled and unskilled labour in Regions Three and Four, Jagdeo said, while pointing out that Guyana has managed the pandemic better than many developed nations.

Government, this year, he said, has also set aside money to help small businesses as well as granting scholarships to train more citizens to prepare for the job market.

On that note, he made it clear that the APNU+AFC has no credibility to talk about cost of living. Under the APNU+AFC Government, VAT was placed on electricity and water. The PPP/C Government, on assumption of power, scrapped this policy of the Coalition Government.

“Although all these costs have gone up, and fuel prices have gone up, we made a commitment as a government to keep water and electricity prices at the same rate that they are now today,” said Vice-President Jagdeo, who contended that these are a massive subsidy from the government to cushion the impact of rising cost of living.

Aside from these measures, he noted that the government has increased old age pension by 40 per cent, returned the children cash grant, increased it, and extended it to private schools; increased the grant for school uniform, and removed a slew of burdensome taxes on mining, agriculture, education and other sectors of the economy implemented by the APNU+AFC Government.

These interventions, the Vice-President emphasized, are targeted to supplement income at the family level, and even noted that due to the polices and programmes of the government, more people are employed today than under the APNU+AFC Government.