Job creation a struggle

THE CARIBBEAN HAS failed to adequately prepare for job generation and this is why it is in the state it is in now.

Barbados’ ambassador to CARICOM Robert Morris said institutions such as the Caribbean Congress of Labour and the CARICOM labour desk were allowed to either fail or barely function but were in need today.

“CARICOM is in a very weak economic state . . . . We need to recognise we have come to a different place and need to look to make significant changes but we have not taken seriously the structural changes required to generate jobs and now we have layoffs among the vulnerable groups,” he said.

Morris was speaking at a two-day regional inception workshop on Strengthening Labour Market Monitoring and Performance in the Caribbean at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill School of Business.

The project is being undertaken by UWI with funds from the World Bank and will take place over a three year period to improve the responsiveness of labour market policies. It will focus specifically on six countries – Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent and the Grenadines although it will benefit all Caribbean member countries of the World Bank.

Minister of Labour Senator Dr Esther Byer Suckoo also addressed the gathering. She pointed out how Barbados had re-established the Labour Market Information Advisory Committee and was seeking to upgrade the Barbados Standard Occupational Classification System and construct a comprehensive employer database. (CA)