– the skills available do not match the skills needed, says Minister Hamilton
If Guyana is to maximize local content participation in the oil and gas sector, a national plan is needed that speaks to Guyana’s labor force skill set.
This is according to Labor Minister Joseph Hamilton, who told the Guyana Chronicle that there is not enough information circulating about the skills needed.
He explained that the public is not well informed about how much of each type of skill is needed in the oil and gas industry or other job sectors in Guyana.
This, the minister said, needs to change. “If in the next five to ten years Guyanese is to fully populate the oil and gas industry, we have to know what we have to get, and we don’t know at this point moment, ”explained Hamilton.
According to Minister Hamilton, there is no national plan targeting the country’s labor force.
“Based on my interaction of all the regions in Guyana, we have no national plan. We have a lot of training going on, but it happens like silos training. Everyone has their silo and they think they’re doing well, but there’s no co-operation and collaboration so that’s missing, ”he said.
Hamilton stressed that despite the call to secure local content in the oil and gas sector, not enough action is being put behind the words.
“We can’t talk about it and say what we want. Desire does not get you where you want to go. We need data to guide us so we can plan properly. So I’m headed to do those things, and get the information we need to plan, ”he explained.
To remedy this situation the Ministry of Labor (MoL) on Monday launched a multi-stakeholder steering committee, and is preparing to embark on a survey and assessment of Guyana’s workforce to draw up a national plan that will lead the way forward.
The committee’s first task will be to hold a national conference to facilitate consultations among the various stakeholders to gain a better collaborative understanding of Guyana’s job market needs “I have set up this steering committee, to plan a conference in this first quarter. the technical training schools, and all the people involved in policy and whatever can sit down for two days and share ideas, and planning and strategies, and come up with a national plan because we don’t have that at the moment, ” Minister Hamilton explained.
He said the conference will be a platform for the companies involved in Guyana’s oil and gas sector to outline their current and projected labor needs right as they grow. This will allow Guyanese to better align themselves to take advantage of these opportunities, he noted.
Apart from the MoL, the steering committee includes representatives from the various trade unions, University of Guyana, TVET Council, Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Private Sector Commission (PSC), among others.
DISCUSSION
In the meantime, the ministry has begun work on the labor survey that will focus on gathering detailed data on the Guyana labor market, and issues that disconnect between the skills available and the skills needed.
Minister Hamilton explained that the survey will be independent of the Office of Statistics (BoS) quarterly Labor Survey, as it will focus on the wider issues.
“We hope to launch it very soon. Our department working with the stats is working on the questionnaire, and the issues to focus on, and will be consulting with the stats center on the way forward. We hope to finish the formal economy assessment by the second quarter and then do the informal economy, we hope to finish by the third quarter, ”he noted.
Minister Hamilton said the lack of a national plan saw the country’s workforce only operating in a chaotic way.
“There’s a disconnect, and that’s because we don’t know what is needed. We don’t know in five years how many people for a particular skill set we would need to train. We may be over-training in one skill set, when we are not training at all in another skill set, ”he noted.
He said there are many obvious examples across the country, where the chaotic way in which people are trained is being highlighted.
“In Berbice I engaged with the Chambers [of Commerce] there and they said they have dozens of tractors and it combines laying all over the place, decaying silver, because they have no mechanics to fix it. The region has three technical institutes and no mechanics. We must have a problem, ”explained Minister Hamilton.
“I went to Region One, the Manganese Company could not find a heavy duty operator from Region One to employ. They have to import them from Region 10. It happens because there is no coordination and collaboration. ”