…urges Guyanese to take up training opportunities
With the increasing investments and demand for skilled and semi-skilled workers, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is stressing the need for Guyanese to take advantage of every opportunity they can to be trained, especially when the Government offers such opportunities.
During last weekend’s outreach in Ann’s Grove on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), Prime Minister Brigadier (retired) Mark Phillips urged Guyanese in general to be cognisant of the increased demand for skilled and semi-skilled labour.
Phillips, who has ministerial responsibility for energy, noted that in addition to the flurry of investments currently coming on stream, even more investments will come when the gas-to-energy project becomes operational next year. He stressed the need for Guyanese, especially youths, to position themselves.
“The reality is, we have a lot of investments coming to Guyana. Not only in oil and gas. In the mining sector. The construction sector. Small industries. And as we complete the Gas-To-Shore Project and electricity becomes fairly cheap in Guyana, more investments will come to set up business in Guyana.”
“So, there will be an increase in the demand for semi-skilled and skilled labour in Guyana. Even nursing, for example, we have a programme where we want to train 1000 nurses. A lot of young Guyanese can get into nursing. Very lucrative profession,” Phillips said.
The Prime Minister also spoke of the non-traditional employment opportunities that women tend to shy away from. According to Phillips, this trend is being reversed as more and more women are now getting into those areas.
“Masonry, carpentry, plumbing, excavator operator, welding. These are a lot of skills areas that, at present, are short in terms of supply. And based on projections there will continue to be an increase in demand for skills in those areas.”
Meanwhile, the reversal of the trend whereby more women enter non-traditional careers is no accident. According to Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, the Government has been making an effort to get more women involved in these career paths.
“What we’re attempting to do is have women participate in what we call hard skills training programmes. Welders and fabricators, heavy-duty equipment operators. So that is our focus. There is only so many nail technicians you would want to have. The areas of development are where women should focus and that is the type of programme I want to bring to Ann’s Grove and all the areas on the East Coast.”
It was only recently that President Dr Irfaan Ali had lamented the shortage of labour. During a press conference in New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) back in February, President Ali had revealed that all the private entities in the Region Six are complaining about a shortage of labour. In fact, he had said this is a national complaint.
The Head of State, who was wrapping a two-day visit to the region, had said Government is combing across the entire country to find available labour. Ali had pointed out that in the construction sector in Region Six, there is a need for an additional 600 skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers.
Government is currently on a housing drive as it pushes to develop 50,000 house lots over a five-year period at an average of 10,000 per year. With the new house lots comes an increasing demand for the construction of houses.
According to Ali, the housing drive, which is national, has created a demand for labour that the country does not have. He pointed out that Guyanese living in the Caribbean might be able to fill a percentage of the gap in Region Six.
In May last year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had told the diaspora that there is a severe labour shortage, particularly for some types of skills. In fact, he had said that in some cases the Government may have to allow companies to bring in foreign labour to complete an individual project. (G3)
