Skerritt made the suggestion yesterday during a break of the morning session on the first day of the CARICOM Heads of Government Conference, being held at Hilton Barbados.
The prime minister had the opportunity to state his concerns too, as the free movement of the people was on yesterday's agenda of issues.
"I do not believe we can move to a single economy unless we address the fundamental issues relating to a single market," Skerritt told the DAILY NATION yesterday.
"We have to do a serious amount of groundwork and research before we think about moving to a second stage. There has to be a renewed commitment on everyone's part to support those initiatives."
According to Skerritt, numerous Caribbean workers had unforeseen problems while attempting to work in other jurisdictions, and there needed to be legislative amendments across CARICOM before the free movement of skilled workers became a reality.
"It should not be left to individual countries to interpret freedom of movement the way they want to," the region's youngest prime minister said.
"There has to be a concerted, collective effort. Unless we do that politically, getting a framework in place will be very difficult."
The Dominica PM also said there were too many reports circulating around the region that several citizens in possession of skills certificates and seeking employment were still faced with work permit issues because of existing legislation within the jurisdictions they were entering.
"We made a decision that once you have a skills certificate and you enter a country, you should be allowed to work immediately, but this is not happening."
He said it was unfortunate that immigration officials of some countries were still requesting Caribbean nationals to apply for work permits.
"What then happens is that too many persons are declined good job opportunities and are forced to return to their countries without a job."
The Dominica head believes if free movement could have been successfully done during the just concluded Cricket World Cup, it should not prove so difficult a task to function properly after such a large event.