THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has embarked on an aggressive programme to create jobs. Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo told Berbicians that 3,000 temporary jobs will be created in the region. The announcement was made during a recent visit by Dr. Jagdeo to the region. According to the Vice-President, people will be employed three days a week at schools, hospitals and government offices at a salary of $40,000 per month.

The benefits of the intervention go way beyond the fact that recipients will have money in their pockets; it will have a multiplier effect on the village economy, while at the same time making a difference to the aesthetics and environmental health of the various communities.

The intervention could not have come at a better time; a time when thousands of sugar workers were thrown on the bread line following the closure of the two grinding Berbice sugar estates, namely Skeldon and Rose Hall, by the previous APNU+AFC coalition government. The closure of the estates was done despite a recommendation by a committee set up by the then administration not to close them, which raised some serious questions as to the real motives in closing the estates, given the fact that the vast majority of sugar workers are known to be supportive of the PPP/C.
The situation was further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the flood situation, which resulted in a significant contraction of economic activities in the region, and, for that matter, in the country as a whole.

As pointed out by the Vice-President, the move by the government is a strategic intervention to bring about sustainable and balanced development in the region, especially in the context of an emerging oil- and-gas economy, which will see significant investments in several infrastructural projects, including a Deep Water Harbour and the construction of a bridge across the Corentyne River, linking the two neighbouring countries of Guyana and Suriname.

As a caring government, the PPP/C Administration has embarked upon a programme to create thousands of jobs. Some 50,000 jobs are expected to be created before the end of the current tenure of the PPP/C Administration, which is in addition to the thousands of part-time jobs which are now being rolled out in several regions.

In addition, the government is also providing financial and other assistance to persons who are desirous of opening their own small and medium-sized businesses. Job creation, it must be said, is not limited to public and private sector jobs only, but also to opportunities created by the growth of the services sectors, which has given rise to the employment of a significant number of people in areas such as catering, cosmetology, fitness, hospitality and transportation, among others.

Already, there is a shortage of certain categories of workers in the construction sector, which has grown rapidly with increased public spending on infrastructural programmes. Much of the ‘slack’ has been taken up by foreign workers coming from neighbouring Venezuela and Suriname.

The offer of temporary employment is a welcome move by the government to bring financial relief to households that are still to recover from the recent crisis situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the flood situation last year. The government had already put in place a number of measures to bring relief to the population, especially the most vulnerable. This is reflected in cash transfers to households, removal or reduction in value-added taxes on a range of consumer items, subsidies on water and electricity for pensioners, and increases in old age pensions.

The creation of part-time employment to thousands of unskilled workers in the several regions of Guyana will certainly help to further cushion the effects of increases in the cost of living, and, in the process, put a smile on the faces of thousands of Guyanese. And while it is not intended to be a permanent solution to the lack of employment opportunities, it is certainly a short-term solution to the financial challenges faced by many householders until the economy is fully consolidated, and there are full employment opportunities.

And despite the best efforts of the government, there will always be the few who will continue to depend on others to give them a ‘raise’, even though the opportunities for employment are there, and they are in perfect physical health. That tendency to want money without working is part of a discarded mindset which, unfortunately, is still being encouraged by some elements in our society, especially in the context of an anticipated rise in oil revenues.

The government must be commended for coming up with measures to ease the financial burdens of the Guyanese people. The offer of temporary jobs to those in need is indeed a welcome development.