The real story on low wages and unemployment in Guyana will ALARM you!
Georgetown, Guyana: March, 2015 — The government of Guyana does not release official unemployment figures, for obvious reasons. The unemployment rate in Guyana is alarmingly high. While our leaders point to questionable hotel projects, an off limits aquatic center and a white elephant cricket stadium as signs of progress, citizens continue to feel the pain of unemployment, low wages and under-employment in all regions of Guyana and among all ethnic groups.
Although the ruling party does its best to hide the real state of unemployment in Guyana, most of us understand the indignity of job hunting for months, even years and being unable to find a job opportunity, much less one that matches the educational preparation we received. The official numbers may be hidden but OneVoice News Network researched many different sources of data to try to paint an accurate picture of the situation in Guyana for our readers. Specifically, we took a look at the 2015 PLE occupation entries. We then coupled that data with the Vanderbilt University 2014, LAPOP survey of Guyanese citizens to really understand the situation from the people’s perspective and the results were alarming.
Although the PLE reflected a regional average of nearly 50% of registered voters not reporting employment, we only used that data to try to gain a cursory understanding of the problem space. The Vanderbilt University LAPOP 2014 survey painted a much clearer picture.
18% unemployment rate
LAPOP reports a total of 18% of the respondents indicating that they were either not working and looking for a job and around 3.8% who report they were not working and not looking for a job. We included that 3.8% in the unemployment rate because our own research indicated them to be citizens who, exhausted by the unfruitful job search process, had just given up. But that 18% rate is still deceptively low because it does not include the vast number of University of Guyana graduates who have to flee Guyana each year for more fertile job hunting grounds, neither does it include the nearly 50% of citizens who call themselves ‘self-employed’ and who are barely scraping by. More about them later.
The working poor
According to the LAPOP 2014 survey of Guyanese citizens in every region of Guyana; of the citizens who identified themselves as ‘working’, 45% of them identified as ‘self-employed’, while 4% identified as owner or partner in a business. 29% identified as working in the private sector, while 20% identified as salaried government workers. The one thing they all have in common is that 50% of all those who indicated that they were ‘working’ earned a household income [the entire family] of less than $56,000 GY. That’s 50% of the ‘working’ Guyanese population making less than $280 USD per month.
Cost of living in Guyana
To put that salary into perspective, household expenses for a family of four in Guyana reflect the following:
Rent 30,000
Food $25,000
Transportation $6,500
Electricity $8,000
Lessons $0
water $2,000
Gas $0
Internet $0
Cable $0
Telephone $2,000
Total $73,500 $365 USD
This does not include school uniforms or books for the kids, lessons which are critical, internet, cable, gas, extras. Basically 50% of Guyanese citizens who are working earn a household income of less than $280 USD with basic monthly expenses of $365 USD. This simply does not compute, this poverty is real. People resort to eating one meal a day, many kids do not have decent clothes, there is no money to eat much less enjoy extras and these are the people who have jobs. These numbers paint a clearer picture of why intervention from the Diaspora in the form of monthly remittances to 27% of Guyanese families become necessary.
50% of those who report they are ‘working’ indicate that they are small business owners
48% of Indian Guyanese report themselves in this category, 40% of African Guyanese report in this category, 45% Amerindian and 45% Mixed Guyanese report in this category, so basically there is no real difference among ethnic groups reporting themselves as a working self-employed person. Because these citizens account for nearly 50% of those Guyanese who report they are working, it is critical to really understand the quality of their lives. LAPOP 2014 survey indicates that 60% of the working ‘self-employed’ make less than $51,000 per month. Accounting for the expenses for a family of four, it is clear that small business people are also struggling.
The 2014 LAPOP survey also indicates that nearly 11% of Guyanese make more than $90,000 GY per month [$450 USD]. These people, more often than not are the private sector managers and business owners, the decision makers, the politicians, the professional class in Guyanese society but they are clearly in the minority and it is important for the majority to make them understand what it means to be a part of the working poor in Guyana. There should be no shame here, everyone in Guyana deserves a good life.
OneVoice News implores all Guyanese citizens to really assess the life you live versus the life you deserve. All citizens deserve running water, a comfortable home, good schools, decent roads, a living wage and an environment free from predictable floods and crime. Come May 11th, 2015, we are calling on all citizens to vote smart, hold your politicians accountable and take responsibility for the future of your children.