Currently 3,640 workers are employed as waiters and waitresses, bartenders and cooks in 144 establishments in 19 states across the US. The number, Mr. Buchanan said, represents a 60 per cent increase over the same period last year. Of importance, he said, was the fact that while the workers are now employed on short-term contracts of between seven and nine months, there is a move towards year-round employment.

Additionally, new categories of workers are being recruited, particularly under the J1 programme, for highly skilled employees. Although the programme is still in its embryonic stage, Mr. Buchanan said his Ministry was already taking steps to capitalise on the benefits that will accrue from it.

The Labour Minister acknowledged that the US farmwork programme which employed up to 18,000 people in its heyday had gone flat with only about 4,000 now working. But, he was confident the H2B programme will experience rapid growth. The optimism is based on a five-day visit to the United States last week where the Minister and a high-level delegation met with prospective employers.

At least 50 workers should be sent to Ritz Carlton out of Atlanta, by next January, and there is the possibility that 1,000 Jamaicans could be recruited in the Lexington, Kentucky area by a manufacturer and racehorse owner. A meeting with 25 representatives of 10 resort groups in the Orlando, Florida area, including Loews Hotels and Disney World is also promising. "Those discussions were extremely fruitful ­ we expect to recruit by November of this year an additional 1,000 workers for that area," said the Minister.

And the Ministry has taken steps to capitalise on the opportunities and is looking to restructure its liaison service in Washington, while exploring the possibility of bringing in a research and development officer to, according to Mr. Buchanan, "ensure that we are taking advantage of the employment trend in the United States".

The Minister admitted at a press briefing yesterday at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew, that there were problems with a few workers running off and said some have complained of inadequate accommodation. But, he explained that a few properties had overestimated the number of workers they needed, in the end not having enough work to keep workers employed on a 40-hour basis. That scenario, he said, could have led to some amount of dissatisfaction, motivating some workers to run off.

And while HEART/NTA has been brought on board to provide training, the Ministry could have problems filling the vacancies however. Nearly 1,600 would-be workers on standby who were given a literacy test, 113 received a score of between one and 25 per cent and were deemed unworthy. Another 411 obtained marks of between 26 and 50 per cent, prompting the Minister to remark that "some will have to be weeded out and some you can do remedial work with". Of the remainder, 538 received marks of between 51 and 75 per cent while 485 received between 76 and 100 per cent.

The H2B programme is in its tenth year.