Ram: Youth unemployment too high at 6.7%

CARONI Central MP Arnold Ram on Friday accused the Government of having failed the nation's youngsters, alleging a youth unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent.

Speaking in the budget debate in the House of Representatives, he said youth joblessness had reached 12 per cent last year.

Ram said in last year's budget, Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings had said the Government was working to help the youth to reach their full potential, but recent figures from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) belied that claim.

He said the Government perennially boasts about its youth policies and plans, just as Finance Minister Colm Imbert last Monday in his budget speech boasted about low national unemployment rates.

"Youth unemployment rose from 8.4 per cent in 2015 to 12.1 per cent in 2022."

He quipped that his source of data was the CSO website, not Curepe, referencing a doubles vending family known as Sauce Doubles.
"In 2023, while the national unemployment figure was reported to be at 3.7 per cent (in the second quarter), it is worth noting that the youth unemployment rate is 6.2 per cent."
Ram said the male youth unemployment rate was even worse, "standing at a whopping 7.5 per cent."

He said the male unemployment figure could be even higher, as the CSO defined youth as age 18-24, while Ministry of Youth Development data cited 18-35.

"Idle hands are the devil's workshop. Where are all these youths going to get gainful employment?

"Pick up any newspaper. Check out any social media site. You'll see the bulk of crime in TT being committed by persons within that age group – gang violence, drug violence, home invasion, robberies – all being committed by persons within that age group and others."

He blamed the PNM.

"This Government, in the last eight years, has effectively dismantled the youth development sector. They have abandoned the youths of this nation. And that is why we are in this trouble situation."

Ram said money must be invested in the young for education and training, but said from 2015-2021 tertiary level funding including GATE had fallen by $936 million per year. He alleged a 40 per cent drop in money invested to train young people.

Ram questioned an allocation in the development estimates in budget 2024 for the recent Junior Commonwealth Games.

"We are allocating $15 million to host games that have already come and gone. That is unheard of. The games were held in the month of August."

Ram said the estimates included a $21 million allocation to the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium for upgrades, despite the facility's construction cost having grown from $200 million to $1 billion. He asked if this new allocation was to be used for the stadium's sound system, as he said amid an occasional cricket game, the stadium has largely become a party venue.
"Interestingly, we have no clue as to the revenue generated or where the money goes."

He said the North Eastern Regional Multi Facility in Sangre Grande had undergone a $70 million upgrade, but then remained closed owing to a safety hazard.

Ram said in the 2020 budget debate, Sport Minister Shamfa Cudjoe had promised a master plan for youth and sport facilities, but he was now seeing a $1 million allocation for that same item in this year's budget.