By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Opposition leaders have hit back sharply against Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, dismissing his assertions that Guyana faces “no real unemployment” as detached from the daily economic struggles of ordinary citizens contending with a high cost of living, stagnant wages, and widespread underemployment.
The controversy stems from remarks delivered by Minister Bharrat during an energy update forum and business luncheon hosted at Palm Court on Main Street, Georgetown, where the subject minister argued that the country’s severe labor shortage contradicts public complaints regarding a lack of jobs.
Minister Bharrat: “If You Don’t Work, You Will Starve”
Addressing private sector stakeholders and diplomatic representatives, Minister Bharrat contended that the rapid growth of both the petroleum and non-oil sectors has unlocked countless commercial and employment opportunities across the country:
- Labor Shortage Argument: The minister maintained that with companies actively struggling to fill vacancies across multiple economic sectors, structural unemployment is virtually non-existent.
- Criticism of Cash Grant Dependency: Bharrat suggested that segments of the population prefer to remain idle and wait for periodic state relief rather than actively entering the workforce.
“It does not matter whether you are gold rich or diamond rich. If you don’t work, you will starve,” Minister Bharrat stated. “There is no real unemployment in Guyana if we have a labour shortage… There are some people who prefer to sit down and wait when the government is sharing cash grants. We cannot operate like that.”
Walton Highlights Living Costs, Low Wages, and the Working Poor
Rejecting the minister’s characterization, Member of Parliament and Leader of the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), Amanza Walton, argued that the administration fundamentally misinterprets the true nature of the economic squeeze facing Guyanese households:
- Erosion of Real Wages: Walton argued that the crisis is not an unwillingness to work, but rather the reality that formal entry-level and public service salaries fail to cover escalating basic living expenses.
- The Squeeze on Essential Workers: She pointed to essential public servants whose monthly earnings are consumed almost entirely by housing rent and transportation costs.
- Accusations of Indifference: Walton stated that the government’s rhetoric reflects a profound disconnect from the daily realities of citizens navigating rising consumer prices.
“Imagine looking at a teacher, for example, whose entire salary can barely cover the rent for a mother’s two-bedroom home, and concluding that Guyanese are struggling because they refuse to work,” Walton countered. “This government refuses to understand, or they simply do not care—and I want to believe it is the latter—because this crisis is not the unwillingness to work. It is wages that cannot keep up with food, the cost of rent, the cost of transportation, the cost of utilities. These people are not only out of touch; they are uncaring and unfit to lead this nation.”
Norton Points to Underemployment and Capacity Constraints
Weighing in on the debate, Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Aubrey Norton, emphasized that top-line employment numbers obscure deeper structural deficiencies in the local labor market:
- Pervasive Underemployment: Norton noted that many citizens are indeed employed, but are trapped in low-productivity, low-wage jobs that fail to utilize their skills or provide a sustainable living wage.
- Structural Mismatch: The opposition leader asserted that until compensation levels reflect the modern cost of living, boasting about labor shortages while ignoring wage stagnation remains an exercise in political denial.
“It is not that people don’t want to work; many are working, but they are underemployed,” Norton remarked, stressing that the administration must address compensation parity rather than scolding the domestic workforce.
