Minister of Trade and Industry, Mariano Browne, says the unemployment situation is not as bad as some might think. The latest figures as of December 31, 2008, he said, showed unemployment standing at 3.9 per cent and, at the moment, it does not appear that the country has mass unemployment.

Speaking to the Express after the Commonwealth Caribbean Business Media Workshop at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port of Spain on Wednesday, Browne said there have been some ’conversations’ with respect to the letting go of some temporary and casual workers, which, he said, has affected the unemployment numbers since then (last December).

But he added that the last figures showed that unemployment went down, between September and December, from 4.5 to 3.9 per cent.

According to international economists, the first signs of the recession began in December 2007, and as such, the figures Browne gave would indicate that T&T’s level of unemployment was lessening in the first year of the economic downturn.

’It went down by point six per cent. So even if there is some slippage, we could go back to 4.5 (per cent) ... even five per cent. However, the story on the ground is that things are stable, steady and stationary,’ he said.

There have been job losses in a number of industries, including energy, shipping and distribution and food and beverage, this year.

While he said he is not certain what will be put in place to help those who are unemployed at the moment, he said the Government had met with the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association and Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which employ a large percentage of persons within the private sector, to discuss the issues at hand.