Читать книгу Voices from the Hills - Ancil Neil - Страница 13

The unemployment rate among all age groups was a major problem. According to community members, the unemployment problem was their worst dilemma. The majority of unemployed fell within the age group of 15 to 35 years. Males were more concerned than females over the problem although the unemployed rate of females was higher than that of males.¹⁴ Almost 50 percent of the under 35 years of age group found it difficult to obtain jobs or keep them.

The most frequently engaged in occupations by males were masonry, labourers (dockworkers), mechanics, painters and shoemakers. Females were most frequently engaged in hairdressing, dressmaking and as store clerks.¹⁵

Permanent employment was held by members of the older age group-35 years and older. The young persons ages were from 15 to 20 years, few had skills. In this age category nearly 80 percent never learned a trade or acquired a skill. This was hardly surprising, considering their limited educational experience and opportunities as well as their youthfulness.¹⁶

From experience and data collected I came to the following general conclusion:

1.The tremendous unemployment problem resulted in the majority of young people doing nothing from the age of fourteen (when they left primary school), to the age of seventeen or eighteen when they considered any serious attempt to obtain employment.

2.This resulted in the production of undisciplined, unmotivated, unpunctual, and unindustrious individuals, who had very vague ideas of what hard work really was.

3.Should such individuals be employed in a factory, office, or any other type of job, it was likely that they would leave after a few weeks or months.

There were various contributing factors responsible for Unemployment.

1.The fact that one had to get up early, travel some distance to work, work eight hours a day, while most of his friends were able to sit around comfortably idle.

2.The fact that one was jeered at by many of his friends who considered that work was for 'squares'.

3.The fact that there were no small industries or factories in the area.

4.Above all, the simple economic fact, that by working in a full time job, one had less money in his pocket than if he was to 'hustle' for a living.

The concept of 'hustling' or to 'hustle' encompasses a multitude. Not just anyone can be a hustler. Hustling is an art developed after constant practice. A hustler must have certain innate qualities to succeed. The hustler gets up in the morning, whenever he feels like. He would walk the streets and, should he see a taxi driver washing his car, he would ask, "Can I wash your car friend?" The taxi driver may reply, "okay." The hustler may receive a pittance of one dollar for his service. Continuing his hustle, he may see someone digging a ditch to construct a fence or erect a wall. Uninvited, he would immediately get involved and help for an hour or more. At the end of such period, he receives another pittance. After a series of menial jobs following the same pattern, lunch time has arrived. Efforts are now turned from labour to soliciting money from his friends or acquaintances returning from their jobs or from lunch. At the end of the day, the hustler would have accumulated maybe, five or six dollars. This money is used to purchase a little food, cigarettes and attend a movie.¹⁷

Now let us examine the situation of an individual who was offered an $18.00-per-week job. It soon becomes known that this individual has permanent employment. His guardian or parents, as a matter of tradition, requested a contribution of $8.00 per week, for food and personal domestic upkeep. His sister was now demanding $1.00 or $2.00 for laundering his clothes. His less fortunate companions, aware of his employment, also made their demands. "Every one wanted a piece of the action."

Employment for this individual was much more expensive than hustling. Everyday life continued as a financial burden. His salary of $18.00 a week had resulted in horizontal rather than vertical mobility. At the end of the week working eight hours a day, five days a week, he was only able to keep $1.00 or $5.00 for his personal use. Previously, he could have pocketed $5.00 or $6.00 a day through the art of hustling. Therefore, it is not financially beneficial for a young man in Laventille to work for less than $25.00 a week, if he can hustle. These are simple logical facts.¹⁸

The preceding description nullifies the notion that Laventille youths were not willing to work. The real reason being, unemployment had always been rampant in the community, therefore, the young people had developed their own system of surviving in a dismal jungle of unemployment, by a way of life called "hustling".

Another factor militating against placing young people in jobs was the existence of the "Prime Minister" special works program, better known as the "Crash Program". This was the employment of casual labour at the relatively high wage of $9.00 or $10.00 a day, to repair roads, build drains and other menial jobs in the area where the people concerned lived. In reality, it was a system of dole in which an individual was employed for ten days every two or three months. Since he knew he would be laid off at the end of that period, he was only prepared to do one or two hours of work a day. He came on the job at 7 a.m. and left at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. This was called "task". The program did not give the worker any sense of security in his job. The high pay and little work encouraged the worker to leave a steady job when his name appeared on the list for the cash program.

The extremely low productivity left the worker with an unrealistic insight of work, so that even though he found employment, it was with difficulty that he accepted an eight hour working day. The worker himself, had a completely ambivalent view of the program, despising it and yet powerless to say "no" when easy money was being handed out.