Caribbean tourism has begun to feel the effects of the economic fall-out

The impact on the region of the global economic downturn has been mixed so far but thousands of people have already been sent home.

One of the countries to have felt the sharpest impact is the Bahamas, where the tourism industry has shed hundreds of staff.

In November, one resort, the Atlantis - the Bahamas' biggest single employer after the government - sent home around 800 workers, with others laying off smaller numbers.

The Nassau Guardian says 1,500 people have lost their jobs in the last three months.

The Bahamas has borne some of the early brunt, partly because some of its proximity to the United States, from where most of its tourists come.

But the squeeze is also being felt elsewhere.

Chronic problems

In December, the all-inclusive chain Sandals laid off 650 workers, or 7 percent of its payroll, at resorts in the Bahamas, Jamaica and St. Lucia.

Other sectors are hurting as well, including some whose chronic problems have been worsened by the financial crisis.

For example in Jamaica, 7,000 workers lost their jobs in the sugar industry, among at least 9,300 Jamaicans who were laid off in 2008.

	The bauxite/alumina sector has been struggling

The government in Kingston has said that some of the sugar workers should be re-employed once it privatises the sugar industry by March this year.

The divestment should have been completed by September last year but is reported to have run into difficulties.

Another sector in Jamaica under pressure is bauxite.

The global financial crisis and sharp falls in metals prices have forced several companies to abandon or put on hold their plans to bring new mines onstream.

Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart), Jamaica's biggest bauxite and alumina producing company, has said it will cut production by 50 percent and lay off staff.

Not immune

The company has also asked non-unionised employees to work fewer hours in a new round of cost-cutting.

Dow Jones Newswires said on Friday that another Jamaican firm, St Ann Bauxite also planned to cut jobs.

The agency quoted a person familiar with the situation as saying that around 150 workers, equivalent to about 20 percent of the company's staff, will be cut from the workforce in the first quarter.

Not many industries appear immune to the financial troubles.

Cellular providers Digicel recently said it was planning to shed 450 posts - or 10 percent of its workforce - from its Caribbean operations as it moves to adjust its organisational structure to the present downturn.

Its telecoms competitor Cable and Wireless, rebranded in the Caribbean as LIME, had earlier announced that it was making 1,200 workers redundant over the next ten months.

Everywhere across the region, people are bracing for the worst.

The UN Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean has predicted that the average unemployment rate could jump from 7.5 percent last year to between 7.8 and 8.1 percent as a result of the crisis.

Even in energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago, the governor of the Central bank has predicted said that the country would not be immune.

Remedial measures

Weeks ago, the steel producer Arcelor Mittal temporarily laid off 120 workers at the Point Lisas estate.

In order to head off meltdown in their own economies, several governments have started to put in place special remedial programmes.

Some have chosen to boost spending and job creation with the help of borrowings from international financial institutions.

The latest is Belize which has just announced a $100 million "economic stimulus" package to build roads and other infrastructure.

"This will increase employment, pump money into the economy and create the rising tide designed to float all boats even in a time of recession," Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow said.

Workers across the region will hope that such strategies will prove to be right.