Jack: 3.4% unemployment in Tobago

Tobago’s unemployment rate at the end of the third quarter of 2017 was 3.4 per cent, with 60 per cent f the labour force employed by the state and 40 per cent by the private sector.

So noted Finance Secretary Joel Jack, speaking at Tuesday’s 12th annual Tobago Economic and Business Outlook Conference 2018 at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort.

The event was hosted by the Division under the theme, ‘Exploring New Frontiers, Advancing Tobago’s Economy,’ with Jack noting that the primary objective the was to provide a forum for the business community, development practitioners and policy makers to discuss topical issues pertinent to the overall development of Tobago.

Elaborating on labour market data available from the Central Statistical Office which eh said suggested that the rate of unemployment in Tobago as at the end of the third quarter of 2017 was approximately 3.4 per cent, he said this figure was lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent, and was also significantly low when compared to neighbouring Caribbean countries - Barbados, St Lucia and Grenada – which he said were experiencing double digits unemployment rates.

Jack noted, however, that “labour force data also indicates that the state sector employs approximately 60 per cent of the labour force in Tobago, with the private sector employing approximately 40 per cent.

“The data also suggest that approximately 25 per cent of the labour force in Tobago, that they are in possession of formal tertiary education training. A figure marginally higher than the 21 per cent recorded at the national level,” he said.

Referring to the theme of the conference, Jack said this should be discussed against Tobago’s current economic realities.

“The most recent data from the survey of Business establishments for Tobago, suggest that in 2017, Tobago’s GDP at constant prices was $1.82 billion, the average annual growth rate of Tobago’s real GDP is approximately two per cent since 2012,” he said.

“GDP data for 2017 suggests that that the service sector is still and by and large the dominant sector in the Tobago economy accounting for approximately 90 per cent in the island’s GDP. The data indicates that the services sector, general government activities, the financial sector and the tourism sector contributes overwhelmingly to Tobago’s GDP.”

In his address, Chief Executive Officer of the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), Dr Ronald Walcott, discussing the topic, “Tobago an IIsland: Leveraging ICT as an Enable of Socio-Economic Activity, said the revolution has moved into digital technology.

Walcott said information and technology were critical to economic development, that to develop ICT, there was a need for the network and the capability in terms of access.

He also pointed to the need to build the right type of data centres for businesses, saying TSTT was is moving towards this where the company now havs some of the world’s best certification data centres.

“We’ve had some very Tobago specific strategies as part of our overall plans in terms of our infrastructure development as a national broadband solution in Tobago. So, we’ve identified what we needed to do to have the type of mobile coverage that we would need on island, we know that there is still some gaps that we’re filling but essentially the mobile network and infrastructure is there and can support that particular initiative,” he said adding that the plans also include a data centre which should be up and running in the early part of 2019.