A NEW study from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), titled “Prospective occupation skills needs in the Guyanese oil and gas industry 2022-2026”, provides an in-depth overview of the main profiles and competencies needed in the industry over the next four years. The findings were pulled from surveys and interviews with 29 local stakeholders.

Guyana is poised to become a top-producing oil and gas economy globally within the decade, but, alongside this growth opportunity, the study found a pronounced “gap between the industry’s labour demand and the availability of skilled workers at the local level.”

The struggles of the local industry also stem from the limited size of the local workforce and global competition for talent. Despite significant progress so far, Guyana will be at a disadvantage if it cannot produce a skilled workforce to address future gaps.

Thousands of Guyanese are already employed in supporting the industry. While this has been a triumph of policy, it means that there are fewer and fewer Guyanese with technical backgrounds remaining who aren’t already employed in the industry—pushing the government to seek out new sources of talent.

Armed with the most comprehensive look at the labour market thus far, the government and private sector can continue to develop and adapt their rapidly expanding array of education and training programmes to keep up with its changing socio-economic environment.

The knowledge of what competencies are needed in the industry can open the door for Guyanese to build up their capacity and skillsets enough to reap the benefits of the industry.
The 29 companies surveyed operate across the oil and gas value chain and employ around 47 per cent of total workers in the oil and gas sectors. Over the next five years, the main occupational profiles in demand will be engineers, risk management professionals, and ship deck crews and related workers.

Employment is expected to grow with at least 5,000 new jobs created in the most “in-demand occupations” across the value chain, but 81 per cent of the jobs would require either a higher technical or higher degree of education and training.

Building the capacity internally to handle the new and growing needs of the oil and gas industry is still ongoing. This is not just a matter of technical or specialised skills, but also scale.
Many local companies are still working towards providing goods and services at the scale and consistency demanded by international companies or may simply not have the resources to rapidly expand their capacity.

The ILO study recommends future actions that focus on investing in technical skills with the potential to yield the biggest payoff, including offering public assistance by “helping the private sector to formalise ongoing (or introduce) traineeship schemes.” These approaches and others should be able to address the needs of the industry for experienced workers, which was identified as a priority by the local stakeholders.

It goes without saying that while this study identifies skill gaps within the local labour force, it also presents a unique opportunity to recruit specialised labour from abroad, including from the large and well-educated diaspora. This would present an opportunity for skill sharing and knowledge transfer opportunities for local workers while keeping more opportunities within the broader Guyanese community.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali discussed Guyana’s oil explorations, development plans and how oil revenue is benefiting all Guyanese.
“We have a very definitive plan and that plan includes all of humanity. I have made it very clear that the prosperity of Guyana must lead to the prosperity of the CARICOM region and the region around us,” President Ali said.

He also challenged the notion that Guyanese are not feeling the benefits by highlighting the measures completed to build roads, reduce cost of transportation, expand access to land for agriculture and more.

Ultimately, the government and private sector can utilise this study to guide its education and training programmes to address the current and future needs of the oil and gas sector. Between local content and the GYD$74.4 billion allocation in the 2022 budget towards the education sector, the government is making positive steps to educate, equip and develop a workforce that can participate in the local oil and gas sector.