subject: One Million Public Jobs Lost as Cuba Re-Shuffles Economy [print this page] That Cuba's economy is in dire straits has not been news since the end of the Cold War when support from the former USSR came to an immediate halt and no one stepped in to help the communist nation.
Today, China and Venezuela have stepped in to fill that void but it is growing more and more obvious that their support is simply not enough.
In a move that points toward the increasing capitalization of the island nation, Cuba has announced that it will close down one million public sector jobs - half of them by March of next year.
Cuba's population is of approximately 11 million people.
The Cuban labor federation also announced that the people to be dismissed will be encouraged and assisted in finding employment in Cuba's growing private sector or else to make them be self-employed.
This marks, arguably,the biggest economic shift in Cuba since 1959.
Cuba's government will also relax some of the strict regulations against private enterprises in order to alleviate the situation for these one million employees who will be let go.
Since this is a step toward capitalism and toward an increased Cuban presence in the modern economy, the news is being welcomed throughout the world and it will likely lead to greater pressure on the United States to lift the embargo which has been in effect for the past 48 years and which many analysts deem to be a failure.
For now, with the embargo in effect, any future business contracts in Cuba will go to European, South American, and Chinese companies, leaving U.S. business out of the Cuban market in a time when U.S. companies are looking to expand their clientele.
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One Million Public Jobs Lost as Cuba Re-Shuffles Economy
