Baptiste-Primus: ‘Support for unemployed people’

MINISTER of Labour and Small Enterprise Development Jennifer Baptiste-Primus says she understands the pain unemployed people are facing and says there is support for people looking to get back on their feet.

Contributing to the Finance Bill Tuesday, Baptiste-Primus encouraged people to visit the Ministry of Labour for assistance.

“We invite retrenched persons or those persons who are unemployed to visit the Ministry of Labour. Visit any one of our offices – Tunapuna, Port of Spain, Central, San Fernando, Point Fortin. They can bring in their resumes. We have efficient and very helpful public officers who would walk them through the various processes.”

Baptiste-Primus says she knows what people are going through. “We understand the uncertainty and fear that confronts persons who have lost their jobs. I am not unaffected when persons lose their jobs, I know how painful it is. I have managed many of those situations over the years, it is a very painful situation.”

The labour minister said the country has to be positive in battling the unemployment situation. “The pain of losing one’s job can be very impactful, but at the end of the day we have to pull ourselves together. We have to think about what are our options available to us.”

Speaking about the ten-point plan on unemployment which the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development has developed, Baptiste-Primus said, “The objective of the plan is to provide immediate short and medium term assistance to unemployed persons and where necessary their families. We want to mitigate against the negative financial, social, physical and psychological effects of unemployment, and to empower them toward reintegration into decent work in the shortest possible time either through job placements or support in establishing their own cooperatives.”