AMONG the several areas where the PPP/C has made significant progress since it was elected to office following the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, is that of job creation and training opportunities for young people.

During the elections campaign, the PPP/C promised to create 50,000 jobs by the end of its first term in government, should it be returned to office.

The PPP/C not only was victorious in the elections, but has also delivered on, and, in some cases, surpassed most of its manifesto promises. From all indications, the administration is on course to exceed its employment target.

Employment in both the oil and non-oil sectors have surpassed expectations, and there are strong indications that the country might have to import certain categories of skilled labourers as the modernisation process picks up momentum.

One of the first policy interventions taken by this administration was to fix the broken economy and create jobs. It could be recalled that the previous PNC administration closed down a number of grinding sugar estates, which resulted in thousands of sugar workers being thrown into the bread line.

Thousands more were laid off because of their perceived political affiliation, including the several hundreds of community development officers in the hinterland communities.

According to Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the economy is being transformed with key investments in traditional and non-traditional areas in order to ensure that the country’s youths are well positioned to capitalise on the resultant opportunities and to take advantage of the plethora of training opportunities to equip them with important skills.

According to the Vice President, the government has a massive plan to create jobs all across the country. In Linden, which was once a depressed community under the APNU+AFC administration, over 1,200 part-time jobs were created along with hundreds of scholarship offerings. The same is replicated in all the regions of Guyana.

Only recently, the Ministry of Health announced the commencement of a hybrid training programme for nurses to man the delivery of an expanding range of health services throughout the length and breadth of Guyana.

According to the Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, this is an innovative approach which will see an expansion of the sector including infrastructural development and enhanced training of health personnel.

Of interest to note is the fact that the hybrid training programme has generated great interest and the initial target of 1,000 was surpassed. The programme is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation.

These are all significant measures in terms of capacity building and institutional strengthening especially in the context of the ongoing modernisation processes and the massive infrastructural programmes currently underway.

Indeed, there is a positive correlation between infrastructural development and job creation as is now manifested in the shortage of skilled labourers in the construction sector. One consequence of this development is higher and more competitive wages for labour.

All of these are significant developments which have a direct impact on the labour market. The PPP/C administration must be commended for the great strides it has been making in terms of job creation and training opportunities.