300 lose jobs in six months

More than 300 people in Trinidad and Tobago lost their jobs in the first half of 2020 as covid19 stay-at-home orders in March led to layoffs, especially in the manufacturing sector, the Central Bank reported on Tuesday.

In its July economic bulletin, the bank said 365 people were retrenched in six months, according to notices filed at the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development.

The lockdown measures to mitigate the spread of the virus saw adjustments in the labour market, such as furloughed employment, layoffs, pay cuts, and reductions in working hours.

"There was a sharp falloff in demand for labour, and job advertisements in the print media declined by 43.4 per cent (year-on-year) during the first half of 2020," the bank said.

Noting that official Central Statistical Office (CSO) labour statistics are only updated to the third quarter of 2018, the ministry's data showed that the manufacturing sector accounted for 64 per cent of all retrenchments.

"Meanwhile, job advertisements in the print media during the first half of 2020 averaged 192 advertisements compared with 338 advertisements during the similar period of 2019 (a decline of 43.4 per cent), suggesting a sharp decline in the demand for labour compared to last year," the bank reported.