Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance and Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh on Monday disclosed in the National Assembly that a total of 2,832 public servants have resigned from the public sector between August 2020 and December 2024.
Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Tabitha Sarabo-Halley had requested details on the number of resignations across various sectors, including nurses, doctors, teachers, and soldiers. However, it should be noted that the 2,832-figure disclosed by the Senior Minister does not include teachers, police officers and soldiers, as they do not fall within the remit of the Ministry of Public Service.
Further, the Opposition MP questioned whether any formal assessment had been conducted to determine the reasons for the resignations and whether systems were in place to mitigate such occurrences. In his response, Minister Singh told the House that labour mobility in Guyana can be attributed to the new opportunities created by the country’s expanding economy since oil production commenced back in December 2019.
According to Dr Singh, since the People’s Progressive Party has returned to government, “There has been a clear increase in the rate of economic growth, an expansion of private sector activity across the entire spectrum of productive activity, an entry of new investors, both foreign direct investors and domestic private sector investors establishing new companies and business enterprises, employing people, creating employment opportunities and generating income earning opportunities to the people of Guyana.”
He noted that the expansion of the economy has brought with it new job opportunities. “What that has meant is that all citizens of Guyana now have a wider array of employment opportunities than at any other time, frankly, any other time in our country’s entire history,” Dr. Singh stated.
Moreover, he explained that the government has improved employment conditions within the public sector, citing multi-year wage agreements with unions, salary adjustments, and other non-wage benefits such as access to house lots and better social services. These improvements, the minister said, have also attracted private sector employees to the public sector.
