By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A MOTHER facing eviction from her apartment and a woman allegedly cheated out of National Insurance Board contributions were examples of the jobseekers crowding a fair Titan Hospitality hosted yesterday.

The residents hoped to secure one of the 75-100 positions available at the company, which is expanding through new business locations.

Hundreds of job hopefuls gathered under tents at the poolside of Latitudes, a restaurant on East Bay Street, for the fair.

Karlene Xavier, 33, said she has been unemployed since November 9 after a falling incident at her previous job.

She has two children, boys aged 18 and seven.

“It’s been very hard being a single mother,” she told The Tribune. “So I guess (I’m just) praying to God something works out because I am tired of sitting home and stuff.”

Ms Xaiver said she is facing eviction from her home after the landlord, the father of her oldest son, told her two weeks ago to leave.

“He actually put me out because he wanted a relationship with me,” she said. “When I got pregnant, I found out he lied (to me). He had a whole wife and everything. It (was) a whole disaster. So because he cannot be with me, he just told me to move out.”

Lashanta Turner, meanwhile, left her last job about a year ago after four-and-a-half years with the company.

“I had a baby and (I found out) they weren’t paying NIB,” she said. Distraught, she relied on assistance from her baby’s father and godparents.

Titan Hospitality officials said they were impressed with the turnout at the fair.

Dericka Munnings, the catering events manager, said the company might hire more than 100 people. “We are expanding. We are looking to open up a new location hopefully at the end of April or the beginning of May at Compass Point,” she said. “So with that we need to fill more roles. We also need them for the previous locations that we have seeing that we just opened up.”

The Bahamas has not had a labour force survey since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

Yesterday, Immigration and Labor Minister Keith Bell told The Tribune the unemployment rate is likely high but declining. He said he expects a comprehensive update on employment rates when the next census is released.