9,550 additional jobs created

.He said the latest data from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) showed there were 612,400 jobs in the second quarter of 2016 compared to the first quarter of 2016. Imbert said this does not translate into 5,400 job losses.

Explaining that the CSO does not provide information on job creation, Imbert said many persons who retire are no longer on the employment register. Later in the sitting, Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe said discussions regarding the construction of a Sandals Hotel in Tobago are ongoing and no decision has been reached regarding concession agreements as yet.

Social Development Minister Cherrie Ann Crichlow Cockburn said the employment of 66 persons at the ministry’s National Poverty Reduction Coordinated Unit ended recently because the term of employment set for them under the former People’s Partnership government for them had expired.

She explained these persons were operating in an ad hoc manner and her ministry is currently undertaking a review of the former unit’s operations with the objective of making