NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT REPORT GUYANA

[Pages:76]NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT REPORT GUYANA

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Contents

1 Introduction

1

1.1 Geographic profile

1

1.2 Projections for 2006

2

2 Performance by Sectors

3

2.1 Sugar

3

2.2 Rice

3

2.3 Mining and Quarrying

4

2.4 Gold

4

2.5 Diamond

4

2.6 Manufacturing Sector

4

2.7 Services Sector

4

2.8 Investment Levels and Interest Rates

5

2.9 Interest Rates

5

2.10 Stability

5

2.11 Consumer Price Index

6

2.12 Investment levels and Interest Rates

7

2.13 Employment: structure, growth and quality

8

2.14 GDP growth and employment

10

2.15 Education and employment

11

2.16 Real Wages: minimum wages and occupational/sectoral wages

12

2.17 Income and wages

15

2.18 Social profile

16

2.19 Crime

22

3 Summary of macro-economic objectives and policies

23

3.1 Macro-economic policies for economic growth

24

3.2 Fiscal Policy

24

3.3 Monetary Policies

25

3.4 Balance of Payments

25

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3.5 Investment in Human Capital- Education

25

3.6 Health

26

3.7 Infrastructure to support services

26

3.8 Safety Nets

26

3.9 Infrastructure to Support Growth

26

3.10 Government Policies

27

3.11 Overview of major ongoing\planned public and private investments programmes

30

4 The Labour Market: trends, issues and policies

30

4.1 Institutional structure for employment policies and labour market policies

31

4.2 The Labour Market: Structure and Growth

32

4.3 Demographics

32

4.4 Structure and growth of employment

35

4.5 Unemployed and underemployment: characteristics and recent trends

35

4.6 Informal sector

36

4.7 Gender aspect

36

4.8 Report on activities to eradicate child labour in Guyana

36

4.9 Child labour report

37

4.10 Migrant workers (both in and out migration)

39

4.11 The Informal Sector

40

4.12 Incomes in the informal sector

40

4.13 Productivity

40

4.14 Wage and other income inequality

40

4.15 Social protection

40

4.16 Industrial relations

43

4.17 Mission and Function of the Labour Department

43

4.18 Man-days lost 2000?2004

44

4.19 Strikes

45

4.20 Trade union recognition

45

4.21 Collective labour agreements

46

4.22 Labour market reform: problems, objectives, policies, measures, impact

46

4.23 Underemployment

46

4.24 Employment problems identified: urgency and impact

46

5 Policy responses to labour market problems

46

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5.1 Ongoing programmes aimed at the working poor

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5.2 Ongoing programmes aimed at the elimination of the worst forms of child labour

49

5.3 Gender policies and the labour market

49

5.4 Policies aimed at other labour market problems identified

49

5.5 Labour exchange Issues

49

5.6 Ongoing programmes aimed at the labour market reform

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6 Conclusions

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6.1 Impact of macro-economic, social & labour market policies

53

6.2 Programmes on employment in the short and medium term

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6.3 The integration of policies and programmes

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6.4 The gaps and areas of institutional collaboration

54

6.5 Major employment/labour market problems

54

6.6 Areas for institutional labour market reforms

54

6.7 Impact of ongoing policies and programmes

54

7 Recommendations

55

7.1 Solve inconsistencies

55

7.2 Strengthen linkages with macro-economic and social policies

55

7.3 Need to design & adjust policy responses and/or resources allocated

55

8 Statistical annex

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Guyana Selected Interest Rates (Percent Per Annum)...................................................................... 7 Table 2: Employed persons by sex and economic activity (Year???) ............................................................ 8 Table 3: Employed personsby sex and occupation (2001) ............................................................................. 9 Table 4: Labour Force Indicators ................................................................................................................. 10 Table 5: Employment and growth ................................................................................................................ 11 Table 6: Real Wage 1999-2005 .................................................................................................................... 12 Table 7: Minimum wage 1999-2005 (G$).................................................................................................... 12 Table 8: Average basic wages paid in some occupations in Guyana 2004/05.............................................. 13 Table 9: Sample of daily wages 2005......................................................................................................... 13 Table 10: Weekly wages paid in selected occupations (G$)2005 ............................................................... 13 Table 11: Average hours worked in selected sectors.................................................................................... 15 Table 12: Employment cost (G$) ................................................................................................................. 16 Table 13: Ministry of Education expenditure from 1999?2005 (G$)........................................................... 17 Table 14: Graduates from University of Guyana.......................................................................................... 18 Table 15: Caribbean Examination Council regional analysis of passes ....................................................... 18 Table 16: Comparative analysis of the SSEE 2000-2004............................................................................. 19 Table 17: Illiteracy rate of persons aged 15 yrs and over ............................................................................. 19 Table 18: Secondary education drop-outs .................................................................................................... 20 Table 19: Secondary education drop-outs .................................................................................................... 20 Table 20: Ministry of Health expenditure from 1999?2005......................................................................... 21 Table 21: Infant Mortality Rate 2000-2004.................................................................................................. 21 Table 22: Life Expectancy at Birth............................................................................................................... 21 Table 23: Ministry of Housing Expenditure from 1999?2005 ..................................................................... 21 Table 24: House lots distributed and houses built ........................................................................................ 21 Table 25: Ministry of Home Affairs Expenditure from 1999?2005 Guyana Police Force (Crime) ............. 23 Table 26: Report of Serious Crimes Committed from 2000-2005................................................................ 23 Table 27: Projected growth and replacement employment in key sectors: 1998-2007 ................................ 32 Table 28: Age Dependency Ratio................................................................................................................. 33 Table 29: Median Age ................................................................................................................................. 33 Table 30: Population according to age groups.............................................................................................. 34 Table 31: Number of self employed registrants 1998-2002 ......................................................................... 41 Table 32: Active Employees Registered With the NIS. ............................................................................... 41 Table 33: Benefit payments in 2001/2002.................................................................................................... 43 Table 34: Strikes 2000 - 2004....................................................................................................................... 45 Table 35: Strikes and man-days and wages lost in 2004 .............................................................................. 45 Table 36: Collective labour agreements by type (Year) ............................................................................... 46 Table 37: Projects facilitated by GOINVEST .............................................................................................. 47 Table 38: Loans approved according to industries ....................................................................................... 47 Table 39: Loans distributed according to gender.......................................................................................... 48 Table 40: Summary result of loan activities of IPED 2000-2004................................................................. 48

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Investments.......................................................................................................... 7 Figure 2: Man-days lost .................................................................................................... 45

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1. Introduction

1.1. Geographic profile Guyana, with an area of 83,000 square miles or 215,000 square kilometres, is located on the northern coast of South America, and is the only English speaking country on that continent. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Suriname, on the South and South-West by Brazil, and on the west and north-west by Venezuela.

Guyana is physically divided into four types of landforms: (i) flat coastal, clayed belt which is about 4.5 feet below sea level, and in which most of its agricultural activity occurs (ii) a sand belt, to the south of the coastal belt, which includes the Intermediate Savannahs (iii) an undulating, central plain which comprises more than half the country's area, and in which are located lush, almost pristine, tropical forests, and extensive mineral deposits. This landform stretches from the sand belt to the country's southern boundary and encompasses, also, the Rupununi Savannahs which borders Brazil (iv) and the highlands which are to be found in the Midwestern area. This portion of the Guiana Highlands includes the Pakarima mountain range

Guyana has a plenitude of natural resources: fertile agriculture lands on the coastal plain and in the river rain areas; vast areas of tropical hardwood forests of various ecosystems and with a multitude of plant and animal species, abundant fish and shrimping grounds, both in its numerous rivers and in the Atlantic Ocean to its north; and a wide variety of minerals, including gold, diamonds, a range of semi-precious stones, bauxite and manganese. Moreover, because of its many rivers (the word "Guyana" means "land of many waters"), its potential for hydropower is immense.

Guyana lies wholly in the tropics and possesses an equatorial climate that is characterized by seasonal rainfall, high humidity, and small variation in temperature. There are two rainy seasons, which occur from May to June, and from November to January. The average daily temperature is about 80? F (26? C).

The country has a multi-racial population which was 751,223 at the 2002 census, or just over three persons per square kilometre. However, because about 90 percent of the country's population lives in the coastal zone, which comprises only about 7.5 percent of its total land area, the actual living-space of most of the population is cramped.

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Summary of economic and social performance Guyana is well endowed with natural resources; fertile agricultural lands with suitable climatic conditions for the cultivation of large scale crops; diversified mineral deposits and large acreage of tropical forests. The economy is natural resource-based and produces mainly agriculture commodities such as sugar, rice and timber. There are huge bauxite and gold reserves that account for the major output in the productive sectors.

Despite the implementation of various economic strategies, Guyana's economy still depends on the production and export of primary commodities. However, after the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1988, the economy began to demonstrate positive growth rates. The key elements of the ERP, which was recommended and financed by several international donors, were:

1. liberalisation of the exchange and trade systems 2. removal of price controls and subsidies 3. removal of restrictions on capital flows 4. and reforms in tax policy and administration.

After the implementation of these measures the economy began to show positive growth rates in all sectors.

By 2000, the economy had experienced fluctuating growth rates from -1.4per cent in 2000 to -3.0per cent in 2005. The real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 1.4per cent in 2000 despite encouraging performances in a number of sub-sectors. A contributing factor to poor GDP growth in 2000 was the several disturbances and protests, which disrupted businesses and operations in the service sector. These disruptions followed disapproval of the 2000 national election results by some sections of the population. From 2000 to 2004 the economy experienced an average growth rate of .72per cent. For the year 2005 the growth rate was -3.0per centper cent and this was in large part due to flooding affecting the coastal belt in early 2005.

1.1 Projections for 2006 The real GDP is projected to grow by 4.3per cent in 2006. Most of the sectors, especially sugar, rice, fishery and the forestry sub-sectors are expected to experience increased production and hence positive growth. However, due to the flooding in 2005/6, production of livestock and other crops were expected to decline.

Output in the mining and quarrying sub-sector has been programmed to decline by 15.4per cent due to the closure of Omai Gold Mines Limited. However, bauxite production should increase by 77.6per cent. Huge increases are projected for the engineering, construction and manufacturing sectors during 2006.

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