CDB Addressing Unemployment in the Region

Research is being undertaken by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to address the issue of youth unemployment in the region.

The announcement was made by Director of Economics at the CDB, Dr. Justin Ram, at a press briefing on the economic performance of CDB borrowing member countries, held on Wednesday, February 18, in Barbados.

He said unemployment among young people accounted for about 30 per cent of the region’s potential workforce, and the research would identify the full scale of the problem and provide data.

“But more importantly, the (research) will provide us with useful policy prescriptions that will allow us to really challenge and get to the real problem as well as to provide useful solutions to our policymakers,” Dr. Ram said.

The research will be completed and made available at the Bank’s Board of Governors meeting in May in St. Kitts.

In the meantime, Dr. Ram noted that the CDB had already consulted with stakeholder countries, including Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, to find solutions to the unemployment problem.

In addition to education initiatives, the Bank is assisting Heads of Government to get their public finances in order and improve the business environment which, Dr. Ram said, would lead to growth in the private sector.

The CDB is promoting the private sector as an engine to drive real economic growth that would lead to job creation.

“We realise that currently, there needs to be a shift and certainly a transformation in our economies and once the private sector has the right climate to invest, and as their output increases, we expect jobs to be created and this will certainly alleviate the unemployment problem,” Dr. Ram contended.

Meanwhile, President of the CDB, Dr. William Smith, said youth unemployment must be dealt with as it impacts social development, poverty, and crime.

The region’s policy agenda, he noted, must provide for a redoubling of efforts to grow economies and create jobs.

He said that while most countries in the region were on a growth path, the progress is far below the level that could be considered sustainable, or what is required to yield real benefits.

To that end, he said “the CDB (will) intensify its efforts in 2015 to serve borrowing member countries and to meet the needs of the Caribbean region.”