-skills available don’t match skills needed, Minister Hamilton says

IF Guyana is to ensure maximum local content involvement in the oil and gas sector, there is need for a national plan that speaks to the skill set of Guyana’s labour force.
This is according to Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, who told the Guyana Chronicle that there is not enough information circulating about the skills that are needed.
He explained that the public is not properly informed about how much of each type of skill is needed in the oil and gas industry or other job sectors in Guyana.
This, the minister said, needs to change. “If in the next five to ten years the oil and gas industry is to be maximally populated by Guyanese, we have to know what we have to get, and we don’t know at the moment,” Hamilton explained.

According to Minister Hamilton, there is no national plan targetting the country’s labour force.
“Based on my interactions from all the regions in Guyana, we don’t have a national plan. We have a lot of training happening, but it is happening as silos training. Everyone has their silo and think they are doing well, but there is no cooperation and collaboration so that is missing,” he said.
Hamilton emphasised that, notwithstanding the call to ensure local content in the oil and gas sector, enough action is not being put behind the words.
“We can’t just talk about it and say what we desire. Desire doesn’t take you where you want to go. We have to have data to guide us so that we can properly plan. So I am headed to do those things, and have the information that we need in order to plan,” he explained.

To rectify this situation the Ministry of Labour (MoL) on Monday launched a multi-stakeholder steering committee, and is preparing to embark on a survey and assessment of Guyana’s workforce to put together a national plan that will guide the way forward.
The committee’s first task will be to host a national conference to facilitate consultations among the various stakeholders to get a better collaborative understanding of the needs of Guyana’s job market “I’ve established this steering committee, to plan a conference in this first quarter where all the technical training schools, and all the people involved in policies and whatever can sit down for two days and share ideas, and plan and strategise, and present a national plan since we don’t have that at the moment,” Minister Hamilton explained.
He said the conference will be a platform for the companies involved in Guyana’s oil and gas sector to properly outline their current and projected labour needs as they grow. This will allow Guyanese to better align themselves to capitalize on these opportunities, he noted.
Aside from the MoL, the steering committee includes representatives from the various trade unions, the University of Guyana, the TVET Council, Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), the Private Sector Commission (PSC), among others.

DISCONNECT
Meanwhile, the ministry has begun work on the labour survey which will focus on gathering in-depth data on Guyana’s labour market, and issues creating a disconnect between the skills available and the skills needed.
Minister Hamilton explained that the survey will be independent of Bureau of Statistics (BoS)’s quarterly Labour Force Survey, as it will focus on the wider issues.
“We are hoping to launch it very soon. Our department which works with the stats is working on the questionnaire, and the issues to focus on, and they will consult the stats bureau on the way forward. We hope to conclude the formal economy assessment by the second quarter and then do the informal economy, that we hope to conclude by the third quarter,” he noted.
Minister Hamilton said the lack of a national plan sees the country’s labour force simply operating in a haphazard manner.

“There is a disconnect, and it is because we don’t know what is needed. We don’t know in five years’ time how many persons for a particular skill set we would need to train. We might be over training in one skill set, when we are not training at all in another skill set,” he noted.
He said there are several stark examples across the country, where the haphazard way in which persons are trained is manifested.
“In Berbice I engaged the Chambers [of Commerce] there and they said they have dozens of tractors and combines laying all over the place, money rotting, because they have no mechanic to fix them. The region has three technical institutes and no mechanics. It must be that we have a problem,” Minister Hamilton explained.
“I went to Region One, the Manganese Company cannot find a heavy duty operator from Region One to employ. They have to import them from Region 10. It’s happening because there is no coordination and collaboration.”