A U.S. computer expert will arrive in Jamaica this weekend to conduct a week-long training seminar with the Jamaican Ministry of Labour and Social Security in Kingston.
The training forms part of an ongoing regional programme of technical co-operation between the U.S. and Caribbean governments, with the aim of setting up a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) and labour exchange.
With over ten years' experience in microcomputer applications development and training, Chakula Creasy will offer hands-on instruction specially tailored for Jamaicans who will be developing and implementing the "job bank" system. From April 2-6, Mr. Creasy will provide seminar participants with immediate skills in topics such as Microsoft's Access database system. Mr. Creasy has designed, conducted and evaluated training courses for twenty-five years, and has also provided training and technical assistance to a number of U.S. Government agencies in the field of labour exchange and market information.
The labour information exchange system was the product of a 1999 meeting between U.S. and Caribbean government officials in Trinidad and Tobago. The LMIS, a computerised registry of job vacancies and job seekers, will match the skills of those seeking employment with job opportunities across the region.
Elaine Chao is the new head of the U.S. Department of Labour, which is providing funding for the project amounting to US$1.85 million (over $81million) over a two-year period. Ms. Chao was sworn in as President George Bush's new Secretary of Labour on March 6, 2001. She directed the Peace Corps in 1991, and was president and chief executive officer of the United Way of America from 1992 to 1996.
Secretary Chao was a deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Transportation under the former Bush administration, chaired the Federal Maritime Commission, and served as deputy administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration.
During her service in federal government, she became the highest-ranking Asian American appointed in the executive branch in U.S. history. Secretary Chao is the wife of Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.
