Stats presentation misleading said Hon. Fahie
As part of a list of sixty questions, during the first sitting of the second session of the second House of Assembly, on September 3, 2012, Hon. Fahie asked the Education and Culture Minister “what percentage of the total number of young people registered for the Youth Unemployment Register programme received jobs initially.”
The Minister responded by saying “Madame Speaker between December 2011 and January 2012 just under five hundred (500) young persons registered as being unemployed when the register was opened. It is important to note that our intelligence tells us that there are a lot more than 500 young Virgin Islanders unemployed. Madame Speaker from January 23, 2012 to February 2, 2012, of the number registered, two hundred and twenty four (224) unemployed persons between the ages of 18 and 30 attended a workforce training programme over a period of a week held at the Marine Centre at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture. On February 9, 2012 roughly two hundred (200) of those individuals attended a one day Job Fair held at the Multi Purpose Sports Complex. Madame Speaker at that Job Fair there were roughly thirty six (36) potential employers who participated and were seeking to fill vacant positions.”
Hon. Walwyn continued, “Madame Speaker of the approximately two hundred (200) individuals who attended the Job Fair on February 9th2012, fifty (50) of those students were already enrolled and attending classes at HLSCC. Of the remaining one hundred and fifty (150), one hundred and twenty eight (128) of the registrants received employment in the Private and Public Sectors. Therefore Madame Speaker 85% of the registrants were initially employed.”
In light of the Minister’s response, Hon. Fahie said “I don’t know if I heard clearly but first of all I just want to say I applaud the programme, but unless I’m doing something wrong there is there [something] wrong that is happening here, I heard over 500 applied and after they registered two hundred and twenty something, approximately went to the programme, and then of the 150 that were met, 128 of them got jobs, which would be accurate a recurring decimal of 33.”
Hon Fahie said “Madam Speaker wouldn’t the exact calculation more be 128 of the 500, in terms of statistics, wouldn’t this be a little misleading… the percentage is not based on the initial registration but based on those who attended the work programme.”
In rebuttal Walwyn said “in my answer I said that over 500 person registered, we can only assist those persons that came forward and so we, we have to use the numbers, based on the numbers we were working with… if we were to work with what the member suggested, then we would have to work with all the young people in the territory who are not working.”
Hon. Fahie, addressed the Youth Register as the ‘Minister’s youth register’ which seemed to aggravate Hon. Walwyn who said “It is not my youth register, it was set up to help the youths of the country.”
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
10 Responses to “Stats presentation misleading said Hon. Fahie”
If Fahie does not like that percentage he can do his own calculations to get the percentage he wants (128/500 = 26%). Why is he being petty and arguing with the minister?