UNEMPLOYMENT IS killing our society, killing our youth, our businesses, our self-respect and to make it worse, increasing crime on our island. Lack of employment discourages many of our young men and women from thriving by killing our desire to succeed.
As a teenager just out of high school and carrying the burden of a weak monetary background, the need to better one's self is not a might but a must. But that feeling to seek independence is then shot down by lack of opportunities.
Have you ever wondered how a country would run if the majority of persons were out of a job? Then the equation would read less employment = less cash = a decrease in revenue. Probably that's the reason more businesses are closing down (besides extortion, high interest rates and taxes that is).
We are a proud people and we take this with us wherever we go. But when faced with gut-wrenching poverty with little hope left to cling to, and an environment where what you fight for is the only thing you get, then a person's self-respect slowly dies. Many are not ashamed to be seen in the "soup line" outside St. William Grant Park.
Some are not even ashamed to be branded a pickpocket or for just being a criminal among their people, not ashamed to be marched through the streets handcuffed and beaten.
Neither the public nor private sector entities are eager to eliminate the unemployment crisis. I think mainly because it is their greatest weapon against the labour force. But they should know also that adequate employment is a control method toward curbing the crime plague that is destroying our country and its character as a "Caribbean Paradise".
By Willesby Rutherford
Contributor
