By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, who once dismissed rising unemployment as a sign of “visionless leadership” under the Minnis administration, is now defending a surge in joblessness under his own watch, pointing to seasonal factors and more Bahamians entering the workforce.

The Bahamas National Statistical Institute reported that unemployment climbed to 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2025, with 25,925 people out of work between January and March — nearly 9,000 more than at the end of last year.

Mr Davis said the uptick was linked to the temporary closure of the grouper fishing season and an increase in people actively seeking jobs. “For example, I’m advised that those numbers may have gone up because of the close of the grouper season, fishermen were not working, and they’ve added them to the unemployment rate. That’s one factor,” he said during a press conference yesterday.

“The second factor that contributed to the number is that we now have more, which is encouraging, we have more persons looking for work,” he added.

The Labour Ministry said the figures also reflected seasonal layoffs in construction and tourism, alongside a labour force participation rate that has climbed to 76 percent. Labour Minister Pia Glover-Rolle has stressed that the country’s challenge is not creating jobs but aligning skills with the opportunities available.

When asked to reconcile the latest figures with his past criticism of the Minnis administration, Mr Davis said the situations are different. He argued that the current level of employment, along with favourable assessments from agencies such as Moody’s, reflected strong leadership rather than failure.

He pointed to international endorsements as evidence of progress. “If you want to start from where I started in 2021 where we were and we are today, even the IMF had to indicate we did an amazing job. They put it in writing. They told me. They put remarkable, even more remarkable job.”

Mr Davis said unemployment is tracked month by month and should not be judged by a single snapshot. “Let’s look at the next month and see how that looks,” he said.