According to a report published by the Association of Haitian Industries (ADIH), the textile sector lost nearly 3,000 jobs during the socio-political crisis.

While the textile sector has experienced sustained employment growth over the past three years, it has slowed down with the anti-government operation "Peyi Lok" which for two months (September and October 2019) paralyzed the country and limited travel to the capital and other cities across the country

According to the report, in August 2019, the subcontracting sector had 57,153 jobs which gradually fell to 55,282 (September) and 54,205 (October).

However, according to ADIH, a certain upward trend was observed last November, and until January of this year, 55,647 jobs were registered. Note that in 1988 the textile sector employed 100,000 people.

Despite this slight improvement, there are still more than 1,500 jobs to be recovered while in Haiti 70% of the active population is unemployed.

In 2017, the Industries Association had estimated it possible to create up to 300,000 new jobs in this sector, thanks to the Hope/Help law, which allows textile products manufactured in Haiti to be exported without tax to the United States. However, Georges Sassine, President of the ADIH, had stressed that to achieve this objective, a climate of "calm and stability" was needed in Haiti, to allow the textile sector to broaden its growth potential.

SL/ HaitiLibre