Productivity and Economic Growth
By
Dr. Earl D. Deveaux



Report after report exhorts us to improve linkages with tourism and foster greater value added benefits from tourism. The inescapable and chilling conclusion is simply that it will not be enough unless accompanied by a comprehensive strategy to foster other economic linkages, encourage investment, improve education, invest in infrastructure and prioritize resource allocation.

The most basic problem is that The Bahamas is not creating enough jobs. Policy makers and businessmen can no longer ignore the capacity of each sector to make a contribution and permit greater choices for Bahamian youth.

It has long been known that huge resource endowments, low wages and size are no longer the main criteria for economic success. Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong Bermuda, The Bahamas all put this perception to rest. However, The Bahamas is a high wage country, but by international standards, we have neither a highly trained nor highly educated labor force. Yet our standard of living, already the third highest in the hemisphere, precludes us from competing with Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica or Belize on the basis of wages. There is some comfort, for if low wages alone were the main factor in locating industry, then Haiti would be the industrial center of the West.

Despite massive investments in plant and human resources, the Bahamas' education policies are failing to produce a competitive workforce. We cannot relent or be careless about education. We will waste our children and as we continue to do so, an increasingly small, educated elite, will prosper while the rest of society becomes commensurately reduced and dependent.

The link between worker productivity and education is hard to measure, even in developed societies. In the context of the Bahamas however, poor cognitive skills, a basic lack of effective vocational and technical training and investments in machines and tools to improve worker output have all contributed to limited improvement in individual productivity. Nowhere is this more evident than in the service industries and the continued dependence of primary industries on stoop labor.

The Bahamas has a service economy. While we define and pursue strategies to diversify the economy, its basic structure will remain service in nature. The dilemma then will be how to increase worker productivity in a predominantly service economy, It can only occur through increased education and training.

The only way to continue to raise living standards and pay for infrastructure, health care and education is through increased worker productivity. Productivity is linked to knowledge about what is to be done, which is linked to education and improving how to do it. We need both to stimulate economic activity. Productivity growth, fueled by investment in improved educational programs and resulting in increased worker performance will only be realized over the medium to long term.

If the Bahamas is to reduce the number of employees with commensurate starts in entrepreneurial firms, then clearly the basis skill level of the labor force will have to improve. This process driven goal must be anchored in the effectiveness of the broad education and training policies and how the work place copes with the dilution effect of many first time employees entering the labor force. If they have no skills, poor work discipline, exhibit hostility to authority and lack team spirit, turnover will be, predictably, high.

The Bahamas will not achieve competitive literacy rates if institutions and parents are not willing to assume responsibility for schooling children. Businesses will not be successful, unless they devote attention to productivity and growth as opposed to protectionism. Corruption and crime will not be eliminated by laws, but through a combination of accountability and the development of dedicated public officials who find merit, satisfaction and glory in building our country.

Developing this new consensus in an extensive undertaking requires the work of many minds and interests working together.


Dr. Earl D. Deveaux

Commentary and feedback on this article may be directed to: earldeveaux@bahamasissues.com (earldeveaux@bahamasissues.com)

Mr. Deveaux,

I have read many articles and have spoken with a old 'Head Teacher' who has expressed these same sediments exactly. Yes, the Bahamian people are in much need of higher educational concentration by the government and of its own people. I am not a politician of sorts but do feel that if the government cannot afford to educate its youth and adults then I would hope that whatever industries it allows to operate within its borders would set up individual educational programs to do on-the-job training. Much iniative has to come from the individual person to obtain the needed skills and I feel that many Bahamians have become complacent. I think there is a dire need for them to believe in a government that is diligently working for each one of them and step up to the plate on insuring that all needed resources are at their disposal. I for one, if allowed to do so, would be one individual that would be there day and night within the walls of my home tutoring and teaching everything thing I have gained knowledge and training in to lift up the spirit of each individual I come in contact with. Bahamas and its people if educated properly and more intensely have so much to offer themselves and the world. I will continuely pray and hope for an opportunity to do what I can as an individual to lift up each Bahamian to their potentials.

Id say, more education, less making babies.

Rory,

Yes, that is an issue in many countries. There is too much 'idle' time and if people would start using that same energy to start educating themselves and get out there and do anything they can to learn more of what is happening in this world outside the bedroom, they just might be amazed!!!

my name is cedric deveaux and im from philadelphia and im 16 years old i did a search under my name and i found you r name i would like to know more about you to see if somewhere down the line we are related

my name is cedric deveaux and im from philadelphia and im 16 years old i did a search under my name and i found you r name i would like to know more about you to see if somewhere down the line we are related

is this a joke?
but ill take you seriously...but you have a Francophone last name, so if your black you could be a creole from New Orleans/Lousiana , of French carribbean (guandeloupe, martinique, haiti) descent or even in some case Grenada or St. Lucia. Ask your grandparents (whoever last name you carry) where are they from if they say the Bahamas...bingo there are a few Bahamians here who have that last name, their relatives came here from Haiti!

Rory,
Yes, that is an issue in many countries. There is too much 'idle' time and if people would start using that same energy to start educating themselves and get out there and do anything they can to learn more of what is happening in this world outside the bedroom, they just might be amazed!!!


Too bad learnin' ain't as fun as sexin'!

I agree w/ the arguments of the author and everyone else fully. For me, there has to be a complete *systematic reform* for the Bahamas. It was fine from 1973-1988, but that's it! And for the life of me, I can not understand how the previous governments have allowed the educational standard in this country to become sub-par. That is a national tragedity in itself.