PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali on Tuesday hailed significant improvements in Guyana’s labour market, attributing the most recent gains to a diversified economic strategy and targeted government policies.
Addressing recent data from the Bureau of Statistics during a live broadcast on Facebook, Dr Ali said unemployment had dropped sharply from 12.8 per cent in 2020 to 6.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024.
He highlighted a reduction in female unemployment from 14.4 per cent to under nine per cent and said the gains were evident across both urban and rural areas, signalling more equitable regional development.
“Unemployment rates are also fairly balanced across regions. So, it is not to say that the jobs are only created in urban centres,” the President said, adding: “When you look at the distribution of jobs and the analytics behind unemployment rates, you will see that it is evenly distributed in rural and urban centres, which speak to the fact that government growth and private-sector growth is [sic] following the development agenda of the country that is driven by infrastructure, that is driven by policies to push agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, agro processing.”
The President pointed to robust employment growth between early 2020 and late 2024, with more than 104,000 new jobs added and total employment approaching 370,000. He said the decline in youth unemployment demonstrated improved integration of young people into the workforce and reflected stronger job absorption as the economy expands.
He said: “So, there is a correlation between the policies, employment, growth, development and investment. But we hear a lot of persons parroting a narrative that is far from the reality, but is a narrative that is only politically opportunistic for their own purpose.”
Dr Ali emphasised that rising earnings were not confined to the oil and gas sector. He cited large increases in average wages across multiple industries: agriculture, forestry and fishing up 84 per cent; information and communication up 88 per cent; construction, 71 per cent; and arts, entertainment and recreation 114 per cent, among others.
“The steady improvement in the unemployment rate reflects stronger absorption. The reduction in youth unemployment signals better integration of young workers into the labour force. Unlike the past, unemployment rates are now almost the same across rural and urban areas,” the President said, adding: “We speak to the equity of our development, the balanced nature of our development and development across all segments of our economy. The average earnings across the major sectors also grew exponentially between the first quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2024. It says not just that employment has improved, the average earnings across every sector has also improved drastically.”
The President also referenced international assessments warning of labour shortages as the country grows.
He referenced an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) analysis that estimates Guyana will require as many as 160,000 workers to meet medium-term development needs, and a local study pointing to a gap of about 52,396 workers.
Dr Ali said the findings underscored the need for workforce planning, skills development and targeted recruitment to sustain the country’s expansion.
“It follows the distribution of [resources], the diversification of the economy and the structure of our employment over the last four years. There is no other economy that is more diversified. There is no other structural growth in employment and earning[s] like we have in Guyana; these are the facts,” he said.
Defending his administration’s economic agenda, Dr Ali rejected critics whom, he said, reduced the national story to oil and gas alone.
He urged attention to the broader range of sectors driving growth from agriculture and manufacturing to tourism, health services and green technology, and called for constructive engagement with the facts.
“Don’t let the parrots sing their negativity like the kiskadee wake up this morning with a beautiful song of prosperity in a country that is rising and rising at a rapid pace,” the Head of State said.