by WADE GIBBONS

BY DECEMBER BARBADIANS could be taking the first step toward gaining employment opportunities in the construction and hospitality industries in Florida and South Carolina.

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Rawle Eastmond, said at a Press conference Tuesday, last employment opportunities in hotels in many parts of the southern United States were plentiful.

He recently returned from extensive tours of Ontario, Canada, and several parts of the United States where he held discussions with people who traditionally employ Barbadians.

Eastmond said representatives from Myrtle Beach Resort in South Carolina would be coming to Barbados to recruit workers by year-end. Amelia Island Plantation luxury resort has also given an undertaken it would be seeking to increase its current intake. About 59 Barbadians are employed there.

A representative from a villa resort area called Alys, in Panama Beach, Florida, would also be coming to Barbados to recruit workers ranging from golf course maintenance workers and housekeepers, to servers and kitchen staff.

Eastmond stressed his ministry did not recruit directly, but created a data pool from which American and Canadian employers did interviews and made their choices.

Outlining the impression which local workers had created in the American hospitality sector, Eastmond said a Barbadian, George Lowe, had won the Employee of the Year at Amelia Island Plantation from among 1 100 workers.

Also present at the briefing were Jeremy Gunn of Italica Designs Barbados, and Bob McAllister of West Coast Construction Limited.

They said a client in South Florida wanted Barbadian artisans to work on a development called Coral Gables Estate. He noted the basic rate in the United States was US$18 per hour.