Two-thirds of part-time workers are women – Parag urges skills training for permanent employment

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sonia Parag, has revealed that women account for approximately two-thirds of Guyana’s part-time jobs workforce, underscoring the need for targeted training and upskilling initiatives to transition these workers into permanent employment.
Speaking about the Government’s national part-time workers programme, which currently employs close to 18,000 Guyanese, Minister Parag noted that an estimated 12,000 of these workers are women. The programme, she said, plays a critical role in lifting households out of poverty and cushioning the impact of the rising global cost of living by allowing members of a household to earn an income.
Participants work 10 days per month and earn $40,000, providing an important source of financial stability for many families. Minister Parag pointed out that this arrangement not only provides immediate relief but can also serve as a stepping stone to greater economic independence. She noted that through the initiative, young women can use their monthly earnings to pay down a mortgage, enabling them to become homeowners at an earlier age.
“So, the pathway programme is a very significant programme for us and for quite a few reasons. One is that we want to be able to lift people out of poverty. That’s the first reason. Secondly, with us knowing that globally there is a rising cost of living, the Government would have to try to put several measures in place… to be able to cushion the consequences of the rise of cost of living,” she explained.
“We are working with the banks to ensure that the interest rate for housing and home ownership reduce. And that is going to [happen] if your mother’s working and you, as a young woman, don’t have a job, but you want to be able to get to places, you want to be able to move up in life. You can start at the part-time programme earning your $40,000. Your $20,000 from that $40,000 can go towards your mortgage payment. You become a homeowner at the age of 25, or whatever the case may be,” Parag added. Beyond providing short-term support, the programme is designed to facilitate long-term career development. Minister Parag emphasised that the ultimate goal is to transition part-time workers into full-time, permanent employment by providing access to Government-backed training programmes. These include the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) Scholarship initiative, the Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN), and other technical and academic courses.
“This is not just a temporary measure. It is something to be able to move people from one level to the next in terms of training, in terms of acquiring qualifications to move into permanent jobs, to be able to acquire a skill set, a different skill set. So, the part time workers, we want to be able to position them through two years from now, three years from now, in a different space in life. So, they can be able to – if you know, if you have CXC (Caribbean Examinations Council) qualifications now, you can be able to utilise the training that we have with Government, whether it be through the GOAL Scholarship, whether it be through WIIN, whether it be through one of these; empower yourself to move to another level. So that’s what we also want to see transition some of them, if not most of them to permanent positions as well,” she said.
While there is no set timeline for transitioning all participants, the Government is making these training opportunities widely available and actively encouraging workers to take advantage of them. Minister Parag also expressed concern that the abundance of such programmes might lead some to take them for granted, noting that in her own experience, opportunities for free tertiary education were not as accessible as they are today.
“Our human resource is our most valuable asset,” she said. “We want our people to move forward alongside the nation’s transformation and be in a position where their skills match the growing demands of our economy.”