the survey is not a census. it is a survey.

the increase or decrease is relative to the last survey taken, and the numbers are standardized internationally.

the absolute jobless rate will always be higher, because the survey dos not count persons out of a job for a certain period, considering them out of the workforce. that does not mean that they would not like to be employed.

so the percentage is only correlated to the real number of unemployed, that cannot really be determined.

when i looked into it too our stats department considers ppl selling juice on the road side to be employed as well......... so i kinda consider the "official" numbers a low-ball estimate

ok, guys how about "there are too many persons unemployed in the Bahamas, particularly young people under 25". any con-census?

if you listen to the talk shows people say many school leavers will go on to attend college and should not be counted in the labor force, methods vary.

here are some explanations on wikipedia.

please note that according to the standardized rates, we are worse than jamaica or guyana.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c…

wow........ and yet we living in an expensive economy with the heavy (artificial) US dollar.
JA money is like 117 to 1 US. guyana is like 207 to 1 US.
Watch when IMF grabs the US dollar from us, and Americans start to go to Cuba instead...
Food for thought....

Comrade Leader Minnis spoken like a major cabinet player under old guard Hubert regime. WHILE he (Minnis) said the Free National Movement (former red regime) would not question the veracity of the Department of Statistics’ latest unemployment figures, party leader Dr Hubert Minnis noted that the agency is AND WAS “controlled” by a government that prides itself on “cover-ups” and “embellishments”.
Okay, did I get it correct or not?

hey Tal dey is all liars. Minnis should know because it takes one to know one!

Comrade TruePeople to call them all liars - I wouldn't want to go that far.
Comrade here's something the very smartest and most dumbest among us have known since way back to the governing days of Stafford Sands & Pindling: The official unemployment rate is always much higher than as reported by we department of vital statistics- cause they are only allowed release data as provided for under the guidelines of the of political party holing governing power.
The data they use was also misleading when Minnis' regime were in power cause it also never did truly reflect the truth about the thousands who were going without steady paychecks.
So, for Minnis to come here and make his funny face about PLP's abuse about playing down the true numbers who have no steady paychecks - is in itself equally as politically minded misleading.
In a way I guess if there is the big lie, it is in the cruelty in downplaying the hardships being experienced by the true growing numbers of the hurting people joining the ranks of the also ran out of they's steady earnings.
if there really is the big lie, it does equally hurt PLP's, Red Shirts - all same when the paychecks are snatched away from thousands of workers.

Even if you dispute about the level of unemployment in this country, you only need talk to the common man on the street to see how much the level of hardship has increased in this country over the past several years. Even employed persons are finding it difficult to make ends meet and the middle class, many of them are living like the impoverished, only so that they can pay bills. One saying goes that no matter how difficult times get in The Bahamas or how tough things get, you would never see persons starving. They could always find a government pump to get water and stand on a street corner and bum $2.00 to get something to eat. But competition on the street corner has gotten stiffer and it has become more difficult for motorists to find that dollar bill (or that loose change) to pass out their windows. You see, relief has not yet come to the Bahamian people. Not in the form of lower unemployment (debate the figures as is your wish), lower energy bills or lower gasoline prices (and not just by a few cents). And food prices are so much through the roof that smaller households and lower income households consume more fast food rather than trying to stretch their few dollars around food store shelves. Some cooking gas tanks have been empty for years and others that were stolen were never replaced and then refilled. Family islands fare no better as you drive through some settlements any hour of the day and see all the local residents chilling g under trees and waiting for Mr. Help And MR. Hope. Maybe they are still on their way.

Doctor Minnis should know all about "over ups" and "embellishments" not to mention big fat lies. because he does it so well. Remember Senator Hunt. now that was just one of his whoppers. is he saying the labour statics use to be controlled by the FNM he should be ashamed of him self. for dis respecting the civil servants hard work.

Thank you for your comment birdie. Another PLP partisan digs deep for intellectual insight. Always refreshing -- never true, but always refreshing and even sometimes entertaining. Just like going to the zoo.

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