The Unassuming Economist

A new IMF paper explains unemployment in ECCU countries:

“Unemployment rates in Grenada (GRD), St. Lucia (LCA), and St. Vincent and Grenadines (VCT) have been above 20 percent in recent years. Unemployment in Dominica (DMA) has also been high by international standards even before the natural disasters that recently hit the country. While it is likely that weak employment this decade was partly related to the impact of the global economic downturn, unemployment was already high prior to the global crisis in most of these countries, thus suggesting there are structural factors behind it. This paper evaluates factors that could explain high unemployment in ECCU countries, cyclical and structural.1 Our analysis systemically reviews demand, supply, and institutional factors that could foster unemployment. Within this framework, we analyze the potential impact of the global financial crisis, the downfall of the banana/sugar industries, the hurricanes that frequently hit these countries, the relatively rigid wage setting process, as well as factors that could increase reservation wages.”