Date of Conferral
5-28-2025
Date of Award
May 2025
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Public Policy and Administration
Advisor
Lydia Forsythe
Abstract
The Unemployment Relief Program (URP) has failed to contribute sufficiently to improve employability and reduce unemployment in Trinidad and Tobago. The URP is an active labor market program that aims to alleviate unemployment and stabilize the labor market. Although there have been studies on unemployment programs and policies in Trinidad and Tobago, the gap in the literature revealed a need for adequate labor market research on unemployment policies and programs and their contribution to employability and unemployment. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the URP participants’ perceptions of the program on their employability and unemployment. The research problem is the increasing unemployment in Trinidad and Tobago and a mismatch between the demand and supply of persons with the necessary employability skills to assist the unemployment situation. Human capital theory was the theoretical framework used in this study. The results revealed that the URP consistently provided relief to participants employed in the program. However, the employability mandate has not been achieved since there has not been any significant investment in training participants for the last 10 years. The implications for social change of this study are that it has provided information for stakeholders to potentially improve unemployment policy reform to decrease unemployment, develop employability skills that meet the needs of the labor market, and provide a justification for continuous research in the field.
Recommended Citation
De Souze, Marsha, "The Perception of the Participants of the Unemployment Relief Program on Employability: A Social Policy Initiative in Trinidad and Tobago" (2025). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 17863.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/17863
