Productivity down as workforce shrinks, UWI warns

Productivity in Barbados has slumped, driven by a shrinking workforce as more people retired than were hired, the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill said Tuesday as it joined the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) to tackle workplace challenges.

The labour force shrank by about 2 700 people in the first half of the year, while annual productivity growth has averaged only 0.8 per cent since 2018, putting the country at risk of a long-term ceiling on economic expansion, UWI Cave Hill Deputy Principal Professor Winston Moore warned.

The economy depends heavily on services, which employ 86 per cent of working Barbadians.