Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Cockeyed Scheme to Reduce Unemployment

For once, I am going to come right out and say it: the Canary Islands government is barking up the wrong tree. As this news item reports, they are planning to close the door for indefinite work permits for non-EU immigrants, which, they say, will reduce unemployment in the islands. Whilst I don't doubt that there is a limit to how much more population increase these islands can take - they also plan to negotiate annual quotas on the numbers who can stay legally - this, in my estimation, is merely massaging the statistics: a numbers game.

Sure, this will remove numbers from the unemployed lists, but, it will only move these people to the black market. Either they will work illegally, or they won't work and, they will be poor either way. What they seem to forget, is that a lot of the non-EU immigrants (especially those from Venezuela) are actually descended from Canarians. They want to be with their family, who have returned to their roots and these measures will not stop them from doing so. Apart from the personal suffering it would cause, it could also increase crime and insecurity.

El Gobierno dice que el cupo cero hará disminuir el paro en Canarias