Announcing his belief that The Bahamas can look forward to a “tremendous 2015”, Prime Minister Perry Christie pledged that the government is ready to make a “substantially strong impact” on the problem of unemployment. Christie told The Nassau Guardian in an interview on Boxing Day that the economy in general and job creation, in particular, would be major points of focus for his administration this year. “There are significant investment opportunities that the country has taken advantage of,” he said. “You’re going to find more and more jobs created and there will be construction jobs and there will be completion jobs.” This is true. With Baha Mar set to come on stream in the early part of the year, the creation of thousands of new jobs can be expected from this one development alone. Christie, however, should not to allow his optimism to get the better of him. The situation is not all roses. As Baha Mar opens its doors, full-time hirings will coincide with the natural end of many lucrative contracts for Bahamian construction companies. Meanwhile, questions remain about whether there is sufficient demand to accommodate two mega-resorts on New Providence. Nor is this the first time Christie’s Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has forecasted vastly improved employment numbers. So far, reality has not matched up with those projections. On the campaign trail, now Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis claimed the party would create “10,000” immediate jobs if elected. Yet according to the latest labor force study, only 8,390 jobs had been created in the two years following the election. A more general word of warning is also called for: The PLP’s performance as government thus far should lead Bahamians to take all promises of “tremendous” results with a grain of salt. As we all struggle to master the intricacies of value-added tax (VAT) it is worth remembering that Christie had initially promised its implementation would happen six months ago. The government also said it would hold a constitutional referendum by June 2014, but this has yet to take place. The other high-profile referendum, on gaming, saw Christie promise to abide by the results, then decide to do the opposite. Then there was the promised relief for thousands of Bahamians who were struggling to pay or had already defaulted on their mortgages. The government implemented a scheme, only to see it collapse in failure. And of course there was the centerpiece of the PLP’s election campaign – the pledge to bring the frightening levels of violent crime under control. As Christie and his colleagues approach their third year in office, the murder count was near the record level yet again. Against this backdrop, as the new year begins we urge Christie and his colleagues to remember that while optimism on the part of government can be an important factor in increasing the private sector confidence necessary to revitalize the job market, it can also backfire and end up having the opposite effect if combined with a reputation for empty words.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 20:50:38 +0000
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