The Director of Labour recently outlined plans to assist unemployed persons find gainful employment in the country.

Howard Thompson told ZNS News that the 8.8% of Bahamians who make up the unemployed don’t get the first call.  He said, “they don’t know how to put forward a proper resume. Sometimes they have no minutes on their phone when the call comes in to come in on the interview.  Some persons don’t have access to the newspaper where notice of vacancies are published.  Some of them don’t have access to the internet that they can go on these different websites to find out.”

The Director of Labour also addressed child labour in the country.  “We get some anonymous complaints about the packing boy being used to clean the windows or to clean shelves.  Child labour is unacceptable in The Bahamas and throughout the world and there’s going to be a greater focus in terms of stamping that out.  So I do have a OSH unit in the Department of Labour, that’s a occupation, safety and health unit and they’re going to be prioritizing child labour and breaches to child labour laws in The Bahamas.”

Thompson said there is no shortage of jobs in the country and that job seekers should contact the Department of Labour.  “We have access to all of the available opportunities out there, the different sectors of the economy that they can get into.  We can give them information how better skill themselves to get ready to take advantage of  new opportunities that are coming on the horizon.”