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News
www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending August 22, 2013
Jamaica’s unemployment now at 16.3 percent - latest STATIN report says more women than men unemployed
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hairman of the Development Bank of Jamaica Joseph M Matalon says a strong microfinance industry is critical to reducing Jamaica's unemployment. Matalon, speaking Monday against the background of figures released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) that showed the unemployment rates in Jamaica at 16.3 percent, up to April, said that "the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship are the primary engine for economic growth and job creation in Jamaica and the region". STATIN figures showed that unemployment among youth, aged
14-24 years, rose to 38.5 in April 2013 from 34.1 percent in April 2012, a 4.1 percentage point increase. Observers said the figures were indicative of the despair being felt across the country by persons seeking work, despite the increase in the labour force recorded since last year. The announcement triggered a statement from Generation 2000 (G2K), the professional arm of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), that the figures were "a clear indication that the government's economic policy was failing.” G2K President Floyd Green said that the 16.3 per cent unemployment figure was the highest in
Women seem to be faltering badly in the competition for jobs in Jamaica
more than a decade "and even worse than when the country was faced with the global financial meltdown".
Women mostly unemployed
Women seem to be faltering badly in the competition for jobs. The survey showed that the number unemployed in April 2013 was 215,000, an increase 30,200 (16.3 percent), with 19,500 males added to the
group, and 20,700 females added since April last year. There was a 12.4 percent increase in the number of unemployed males and a 19.1 percent increase in the number of unemployed women. According to STATIN, unemployment among women for April 2013 stood at 21.3 percent compared to 12 percent for men.
STATIN said that the incremental increase in the unemployment rate was caused by an additional 38,900 (three percent) persons joining the labour force, but that only 8,700 of them were able to find jobs, adding 30,200 persons to the unemployment roll. The male labour force has increased by 15,600 (2.2 percent) and the female labour force by
23,000 (four percent). So, while the number of men in the labour force moved from 700,500 to 716,100, the number of women rose from 583,100 to 606,300. However, in terms of people finding jobs, the biggest increase was an area which attracts many more women than men clerks although the six percent increase to 100,900 was not quite enough to make a significant impact on the number of women seeking work. The grouping plant and machine, which mainly attracts men, had the largest decline, dropping from 62,000 persons to 57,000. In terms of percentage increase, "wholesale and retail, repair of motor vehicles and equipment", which include young people employed in wholesale/retail shops and in garages, jumped by 17,000 or 7.8 percent. However, manufacturing declined by 7,200 persons or 9.2 percent. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)
Guyanese woman remanded to prison on trafficking in persons charge
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he 24-year-old woman arrested for running a forced prostitution ring in the interior after the Guyana Women Miners Organisation rescued four teenage girls from her premises, was remanded on Monday on a trafficking in persons charge. It is alleged between March 14 and April 1 at Tiger Creek, Puruni, Ann Maria Carter engaged in trafficking in persons, that is, she recruited, transported and harboured a 17-year-old girl for sexual purposes. It is further alleged during the same period, Carter unlawfully assaulted the said teenager, causing her actual bodily harm, by punching her in the face and hitting her to the head. She pleaded not guilty to both charges read against her by Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. Attorney Haymant K Ramdhani represented the defendant and told the court that she has an eight-year-old child and is the sole breadwinner for her family. He added that this is the second time his client has been charged with such an offence,
Ann Maria Carter being escorted out of the courthouse by a police officer
noting that she was granted bail in the sum of Gy$100,000 when she appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court. Carter made her first appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on June 28 before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry after she was arrested. It was alleged between March 28 and April 22, she harboured girls for sexual exploitation. M a g i s t r a t e Sewnarine-Beharry transferred the matter to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court for July 5. Prosecutor Seon
Blackman objected to bail on the grounds of the nature of the offence, the punishment attached to such an offence and the fact that the defendant has matters of similar nature pending at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court. Magistrate Azore granted bail in the sum of Gy$50,000 for the assault causing actual bodily harm charge, before remanding the defendant on the trafficking in persons charge. The matter was transferred to Court One for September 18. (Guyana Times)