–Minister Singh says at Labour Forum

IN a bid to tackle the pressing issue of skills mismatch and workforce challenges in Guyana, a multi-stakeholders forum on Guyana’s labour needs was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Friday.

The forum, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Diaspora Unit, brought together key stakeholders to discuss critical topics such as skills and manpower requirements, human capital transfer schemes and local content in the labour market.

While addressing the forum, Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, highlighted the urgent need to bridge the skills gap and promote occupational mobility in the country’s workforce.

Senior Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, while highlighting the prevailing skills mismatch, expressed concern over the contrasting realities faced by employers and job seekers in the labour market. He noted that the private sector often struggles to find skilled workers, while many individuals in the community continue to seek employment opportunities.

“How do you reconcile these two evident realities?” he asked the forum participants.

“How do you reconcile that on the employer’s side of the conversation you are being told they can’t get people and, on the supply side, the worker or the potential worker population is saying to you, they can’t get jobs?”

In response to the challenges, Minister Singh mentioned the government’s robust investments in academic training, online scholarships, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

The goal is to equip the workforce with the necessary skills to meet industry demands and close the skills gap.

However, he explained the need for collaboration with the private sector to effectively address this issue.

The Minister said that they are open to working with the private sector to resolve the skills gap and further stated that ‘occupational mobility’ has to be addressed.

Minister Singh noted that there are places in Guyana where people are raised to believe that they are supposed to have an office job, and if they do not, they have failed in life.
He added that, far too often, people are unwilling to practise occupational mobility, which is a practice they have to break.

Minister Singh said that they have to encourage people to be more mobile, occupationally flexible, willing to change course, willing to acquire new skills, and willing to go where the jobs are.

“Part of this is communication too. Part of this is explaining to people where the opportunities are and what the opportunities pay, de-stigmatising this kind of work,” he related.

He added that the location of jobs also poses a major issue within the labour workforce, as often where the jobs are, is not necessarily where the jobless persons are situated.

Minister Singh said that there are small solutions to this issue, such as providing a shuttle bus to help workers get to work.

Meanwhile, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, said that with the building of roads, sea defences, and other projects, skills are needed to get the work down.

“With hotels under construction, obviously you would need skills in the hospitality sector, and also we will need a supply chain to ensure that those hotels are adequately serviced whether it is with food, and all the other amenities,” he explained

The minister said that the government needs more skilled, equipped, and trained persons in Guyana.

He mentioned that the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme and the expansion of TVET through the Ministry of Education, are to ensure that there is no shortage of skilled workers within the country.

He said that with the continuous development and expansion throughout each sector of Guyana, there is never enough labour.

With ongoing expansions in the health and aviation sectors, Minister Edghill said that the demand for professionals such as pilots, engineers, and nurses is on the rise.

As such government is currently seeking to create an environment where job seekers are equipped with the necessary skills to meet the demands of the evolving job market.

“There is a great need in every sector and how can we get this done, in terms of solving the labour situation?” he asked.

Minister Edghill, however, recommended that there be more investments at the secondary level.

“We have the business streams, we have the science streams and we need to have the engineering and other technical vocational streams…not everybody is going to be a lawyer or pilot, we need more people to build out,” he explained.

Further, he suggested that a centre be set up for employment purposes because companies not only need permanent workers but temporary workers as well.

“… we have to find a way to pool all of our young men and our young women who are looking for work… Maybe we need to set up some centres so that people could actually show up…you need temporary workers as well as you need permanent workers,” the minister said.