As Trinidad and Tobago sees a downturn in the economy, job cuts have been on the rise in the energy, and construction sectors.

Hit the hardest is the construction industry, based on information provided by the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association, up to the end of March approximately 1800 workers had been retrenched.

President of the Association Mickey Joseph has said that this is mostly due to the reduction of projects by the Government in housing, building and road maintenance. He added that contracts for new houses from the Housing Development Company had not yet been renewed and that projects along the waterfront were winding down adding to the lack of jobs in the sector.

In the energy sector, just last month Spanish exploration company Repsol YPF downsized its local operations citing that positions were redundant. Repsol which operates mature oil and gas fields and owns part of the operation in Atlantic LNG trains in Point Fortin, has reassigned 20 expatriates and let go 13 employees.

In a release from the Central Bank, the decline in employment was noted and attributed to the slowdown in global economy that has lead local businesses to reevaluate their spending plans.

Chaguanas Chamber of Commerce President Stephan Cadiz has speculated that job losses would increase this year as recession like symptoms continue to affect the country. 

Just last mouth Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Brown said that Government would not allow the unemployment rate to spiral out of control but noted that there was a crisis of confidence in the country.

Last years nation statistics put the unemployment rate at 5 per cent a figure that local economists are expecting to rise significantly. 

Kimiko Scott