By G.A. Dwyer Astaphan
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G.A. Dwyer Astaphan
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I am very happy that the Government has launched the YES Project.
And I hope that it will be successful in embracing our unemployed youths, both those who have left high school and college but still remain jobless, as well as those who never completed high school.
I am tempted to refer to the latter group as being the marginalized group, but my better judgment tells me that there are high school and college graduates who are also marginalized.
Their diplomas would have brought them little or no comfort, because the expectations of these graduates are quickly transformed into cynicism, disappointment, despair and desperation for every moment and every day that passes without them getting the chance to use those diplomas and to make something of themselves.
Have you ever heard the saying: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing?”
Well, I believe in it, because it is no secret that educated people who are not productively engaged can be the most dangerous threat to a society.
So, as the YES Project targets our nation’s unemployed persons in the age group 18-35, I urge the decision makers to focus as much on the high school and college graduates as they will on others.
Of course, as I understand it, the Project is aimed at job creation and the development of personal and social skills. And that is a good thing. A necessary thing! I say this because, with respect, the personal and social development of our people is woefully deficient, and that is everybody’s fault. And without this personal and social development, the job creation aspect of the YES Project by itself will not be enough.
While I am on this particular point, let me repeat my mantra, perhaps to the irritation of some of you. Our approach to primary school education needs to be changed.
Our primary school years are the time when the foundation of our personal and social development must be laid, just as it is also the time when the foundation for our academic and intellectual development is laid. So an approach needs to be adopted which will secure both foundations.
If and when that happens, there will be less need for a YES Project, and there certainly will be less antisocial behaviour and crime.
I must make an additional point, however.
At this time , with the world economy in a tail spin, with mighty corporate empires being blown away like straw in the wind, and with jobs being lost at a frightening rate, I do not believe that targeting the 18-35 age cohort is going to be enough.
Already, some employers in our Federation have begun laying off workers, many of whom are over the age of 35, and many of whom are parents and grandparents, and breadwinners, with rent, mortgage and other weighty financial obligations to meet on a regular basis.
And any program in the present economic circumstances which targets only 18-35 year-olds, but excludes the older workers who are being, and will be, laid off cannot be complete.
It is with this in mind that I applaud the Government’s initiative to look into the job market here in the Federation. In a press release dated 25th February, 2009, Government announced that it would be studying the unemployment situation in the manufacturing sector with a view to alleviating the concerns of workers “and to provide assistance and support in this time of global economic setback”.
I note also that the Cabinet has set up a committee to do this work, comprising representation from the Ministries of Labour, Industry & Commerce and Tourism.
I think that the Ministries of Youth, Social & Community Development and Gender Affairs, and Health need to be involved, because there are issues which will be of direct concern to those Ministries.
But that is not all.
I do not think that restricting this process to workers in the manufacturing sector goes far enough. Because downsizing, lay-offs and other pains that flow from a weak world economy are likely to be felt also in tourism, in transportation, and in the restaurant and mercantile sectors. In all sectors of our economy and society.
Government will also have to take a hit, but we all know that Government workers do not as a rule get laid off as easily as private sector workers. And I am not for a moment suggesting that Government workers will be, or ought to be, laid off. I am just saying that with a weaker economy, with revenues seriously reduced, Government is in an awful squeeze and will be for some time to come, and this will make it much more challenging to deliver the services that it needs to, and at the standards it needs to.
These are the hard facts of life!
Now I know that some extra nice employers will want to hold on to their workers for a s long as possible, and they will be prepared to take a hit in their pockets, but somewhere along the line, and this will be sooner rather than later, employers will want special concessions from Government in order to maintain staff and even to remain in business.
And Government, itself in a severely weakened fiscal situation, will be called upon to provide for greater needs in the private sector. In other words, we are seeing and will continue to see Government, fiscally weakened by the global economic crisis, being called upon to perhaps further weaken itself fiscally in order to save the nation’s economy from deteriorating.
The situation is critical.
One demand that I can see right off the bat will be the demand for more money to pay out Severance Pay.
I believe that the Government is stepping in the right direction. However, I am not sure that the Government is stepping as far forward, or is thinking as much ‘out of the box’, as it ought to.
And yes, however you look at this situation, more money and resources will be needed to avert disaster. More money in an environment of less revenue.
In the USA, President Barack Obama is printing money like crazy, and starting civil projects throughout the nation in order to create jobs, get much needed work done, and stimulate economic activity.
He is engaged in crisis management and he is taking bold, innovative steps. He has to!
He is also at the same time seizing the opportunity to shift the American economy towards greater energy efficiency and ‘greening’, and stepping up the stakes in education and health care.
He is bravely taking on this grave economic challenge with relish, and is multi-tasking as perhaps never before in the history of the USA.
I am sure that he is being astutely advised.
And even if he prints the American dollar down to near nothingness, once he stimulates action in the economy, and gets energy efficiency programs on course, and his education and health care systems up to a higher standard, his nation will recover, and it will thrive once again.
Perhaps (and hopefully) under a new and better paradigm, but it will thrive.
If the US dollar does lose significant value, and if the US economy takes 5 years to recover, where does that put us, now and in the medium term?
It is serious. And there would be breathing room for us if other major economies with which we trade were not themselves going through the same hell. But they are going through hell. So we have nowhere to go!
At least, not conventionally.
Yet we owe ourselves and our children the duty of survival. So we really have to ‘think out of the box’.
Perhaps consideration can be given to workers who are laid off and placed in the YES Project to be continued under the provisions of the Protection of Employment Act, so that their employment actually continues. If this can be done, and if in the transition, the workers earn the same wages and enjoy the same conditions and benefits s they did in their previous jobs, then they would not be entitled to Severance Pay (because their situations will not have worsened) a significant amount of money might be saved by the Severance Payment Fund.
Perhaps also, consideration can be given to launching the National Security Development Fund in an effort to raise money to build out our national security infrastructure. If we can attract investors to that at this time, we can use their money to create major economic activity in our Federation, and prevent ourselves from sinking our public sector finances into the abyss.
If we are able to raise 200 million dollars by issuing 200 passports (to holders only, not giving citizenship rights to spouses or off-spring, and lapsing upon the death of the holder), we could target some really high net worth and highly reputable individuals who might not even want to spend much time here, but would happily invest in our national development, and who might also put additional money into community and social programs for our people.
Two hundred million dollars injected into our economy could have miraculous effects.
Of course, you have a load of brain in your head, and you can, either on your own, or in brainstorming sessions with friends, come up with some brilliant ideas which can be put into the mix of public debate so as to provide guidance for the Government and for all other stakeholders in our nation.
This thing is serious, you know.
And already we are hearing some of those ‘smart men’ in Europe and North America claiming that the global financial crisis is good reason to close down much of the offshore financial services industry.
It is greed and ‘grease’ in the metropolis that have caused this. Nothing else! And we must not allow these pirates to squeeze the life out of us anymore.
It tells us that we have to be sensible, deliberate and proactive in our own survival and success.
Meanwhile, let us make sure that we take care of the unemployed of all ages in our country, you hear.
Until next time, plenty peace.
