Doug Wheatley at a recently held community meeting. Photo: VINO

The suggestion was made last evening, October 16, 2012 when representatives of the DPU appeared on the local radio programme ‘Speak out BVI’, which was hosted by Doug Wheatley.

It was also revealed that the DPU will be holding an exhibition in observance of Caribbean Statistics Day 2012.

While Caribbean Statistics Day was officially observed on October 15, 2012, the DPU has been holding a week of planned activities, which ends in an exhibition scheduled to take place at the Breezeway of the Central Administration Complex building in Road Town today, October 17, 2012 from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M.

Appearing on the show were DPU Director, Mr Raymond Phillips, Statistician Michelle Richmond, Economist Reginald Hodge, Michael Malone and Economist Casey Frett.

The theme for this year is ‘Working together to improve statistics in the 21st Century and beyond’.

Persons were encouraged to come out and be informed about the work being done by the Unit and also to see how the information being compiled can be used.

The team posted an informational display at the Administration Complex which has a series of data and information for persons visiting the building and gives a snapshot of what can be expected at the exhibition. There was also a knowledge quiz done on ZBVI last week and public service announcements in addition to the radio interview and exhibition.

The panellists answered questions about inflation rates, GDP, imports, birth and death rates and work permits in addition to a few others.

The inflation rate was revealed to be somewhere between 2%-3.5% while the natural increase of the population was expressed to be around 200 persons.

Additionally, it was revealed that work permits peaked sometime in 2008 at about 11,000 but has since fallen to somewhere above 10,000. Mr Wheatley asked how come there were so many work permits yet many young people remained unemployed. It was explained that many of the work permits issued were for jobs that VIslanders did not wish to take up such as gardening. It was noted that this needed to be considered before jumping to the conclusion that too many permits were being issued.

The guests also touched briefly on the issues surrounding the financial service and tourism sectors and the projected earnings that they hold for the economy.