With the unemployment rate hovering in the double digits in the face of a dramatic economic downturn, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has revealed that a temporary job program the government is seeking to put in place would likely create jobs for as many as 2,000 Bahamians.

Ingraham explained that those hired would be engaged for a specific period to do specific things. He revealed in an interview with The Nassau Guardian that some people will be hired as teachers' aids in government schools to ensure that first graders and other students are able to read.

The prime minister said the government may also hire some people to computerize government records "which is a 'paperful' society". Ingraham added that this would provide opportunities for people skilled in this area.

"When it is done, it will be for a short time, a specific period of time; probably not longer than six months," he said.

Asked where the money will come from for this program, Ingraham said, "The money will have to come from a reordering of government's priorities. The overall expenditure of the government will not change. There may be things that we thought we might do that we'll choose not to do, because we have to respond to this immediate human need of individuals.

"Some things therefore can wait while we put the resources on a short-term basis into alleviating hurt."

The government has estimated expenditure at $1.53 billion for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, $34 million more than what had been listed as the projected out-turn for 2008/2009, but $39 million less than had been projected in last fiscal year's budget.

Ingraham told The Guardian that the fact that the government has less money now than in the past means there is greater focus on the expenditure of the fewer dollars it now has.

"And so, greater efficiencies are now being had in many, many areas of the government," the prime minister explained. "That does not in the slightest suggest an adequate response to wastage and that [controlling] excessive expenditure is near at hand, but we are making progress."

The prime minister said the government also hopes it can partner with the business community and provide incentives so business people could engage some out-of-work people for specific projects.

Thousands of Bahamians are currently unemployed.

The Department of Statistics revealed recently that unemployment in The Bahamas jumped from 8.7 percent last year to 14.2 percent this year, the highest rate recorded since the early 1990s. It has not yet, however, provided any information on discouraged workers ? those people who are available and willing to work, who are capable of working, but who have become so discouraged looking for work they have given up searching for it.

The Bahamas is not alone in its current economic struggles and soft job market. Some U.S. states, for example, recently recorded double-digit unemployment despite a declaration by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. is emerging from the recession.

Ingraham said the government is hopeful that an economic turnaround will emerge sometime next year.

"We think that things are bottoming out. There's only anecdotal evidence to support that, so we're certainly not prepared to declare that the worst has passed," the prime minister said. He noted that even experts in the United States and other countries are unable to project with any degree of certainty when the economic storm will pass.

"People have a difficulty appreciating when this will end," Ingraham said, adding that it is going to take a very long time for the world to "shake out" of its current situation.

"There's no point in us [asking] 'when is this going to end?' because we don't know," he said. "And there's no point in selling false hope and there's no one who has an immediate answer to it. It is not instant coffee. It took a long time for this to happen and it's going to take quite a while for us to shake out of it."

The prime minister said it is extremely hard to get Bahamians to appreciate what has happened to their economy and to the world economy.

"And perfectly intelligent, very educated people, continue to spew all kind of stories. In government, people continue to want to expend money as though things never changed," he noted. "No consideration is given to the reality of the day and you wake up every other day and you read in the media or you listen on the radio, and somebody is giving some cock and bull story about this is happening, that is happening, etc. and you wonder where they are, which planet are they living on. But I live on this planet. I live the reality every day.

"And so, that's the hardest thing; I have been unable to cause the society to appreciate what our current circumstances are and I don't know how to do it. So, if there's a failing on my part, it is a failure to get the public to appreciate that and those in government, across the board ? members of Parliament, public officers, name them. It is very difficult to get them to understand and appreciate what has hit this economy."

By Candia Dames - nassau guardian