Local job market shrinks

It is alarming to see that for every job opening in the public sector, there are more than 200 applicants vying for the same job. It is another indication confirming the deepening economic conditions in the islands and the apparent effect it has placed on the laps of newly weds or students who recently graduated from high school.

At the same time, the private sector has implemented reduction of work hours or manpower or both to cut down on overhead expenses. These measures further render job opportunities in this sector harder to find as businesses too have adversely been assaulted by the Asian crisis. Up ahead, it boggles the mind where do we place the 300-400 students who graduate each year from high schools in these isles.

These are all troubling developments wrought by the Asian crisis not to mention the tsunami effects of federal policy instability that has literally dampened the enthusiasm of current and prospective investors from expansion and future investments. The confluence of the Asian crisis and instability wrought by changing policies in midstream is the most destructive pill these isles have ever seen since the end of World War II.

What is even more troubling is the seeming snail-like fashion with which local leadership has dealt with this situation. Not to rebuke the work of the Revitalization Task Force, but there’s an obvious need for this group to retain the services of an experienced economist and public sector finance expert to aid the group make sense of what’s coming down the pike, what needs to be done in the interim, and engage in mapping-out a long term economic plan for these isles down the years. It also needs to constantly monitor the pulse of tourism, apparel manufacturing, construction industries and small businesses.

Unless the local government takes a proactive role in aggressively defending the balance of the local economy, most businesses would have filed chapter eleven cases while simultaneously triggering other industries to head to jetways in search of better economic venues where they can make lasting investments with their new host governments. By that time, more than half the indigenous population would be jobless. Let’s be more aggressive in defending what’s rightfully ours, now!