CAN JAMAICAN nationals be found who are executive chefs? What about more exotic job titles like belly dancers, massage therapists, tango dance teachers, or even staid skills like albaster-maker or landscape designer?
Why is this important, you may ask? Well, the more unique your skill level, the greater the likelihood that you can travel the world, without having to join, say, the United States army, and avoid being sent to distant climes, like Afghanistan or Iraq, where your chances of being blown up or shot at, are greater than that of an absolute stranger walking in a garrison constituency at 1:00 a.m., without being checked (and not by the police, but the local militia).
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES
Changing demographics, new technological changes and new consumer demands have made the transfer of skilled workers much easier over the last decade, despite the immigration restrictions and more invasive body searches iris scans and cavity searches that come with global travel. Have skills, will travel. Work permits, no problem, man.
An interesting Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study that looked at data on non-member graduates in the OECD countries (these findings were reported in The Economist magazine 2005, April 2) found that of the top 15 suppliers to these richest countries in the globe, the top four suppliers were Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago. No wonder you can find a Jamaican in any part of the world; you can also add a Guyanese, Trini, and other CARICOM nationals as the CSME kicks in.
At the same time, the Labour Ministry in Jamaica has seen a steady increase in the applications for and renewals of work permits. Applicants come from all over the globe. The Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens (Employment) Act is the correct terminology for the more commonly called Work Permit Act. Just last week the Labour minister Horace Dalley used his sectoral speech to sound a warning that his ministry will be tightening the granting of such permits in the future, unless more companies put in place programmes to train and transfer skills to more Jamaican nationals. He also pointed out that in the absence of this, then the recruits should come from the region (CARICOM), before they are sourced from outside the region.
It's an important point as global migration shows no sign of slowing down, and with CSME accords promoting even more more skilled worker transfers, the onus will be on the country to gain its fair share of this global talent hunt. There will be need for more workers who can relocate at the drop of a hat but the emphasis is on skilled workers, not the 'nothing na gwaan but want a work that pays well' ones. The gender barrier is also not going to be a major handicap as more women are now willing to leave their country and work abroad for extended periods, regardless of the social effects on the children they leave behind, or other dependents. What's more, they are likely to be more wanted given their greater academic levels and willingness to work hard.
The work permits won't close off the market from other nationals coming into Jamaica seeking to fulfil key labour needs, but we also need to ensure that the Labour Ministry actively protects and promotes nationals, once the workers here are in the quantity and quality needed to meet such needs. I draw the line however at the import of skilled masseuses, exotic dancers and shop attendants (check some Downtown stores) unless they have some unique customer service skills that locals continue to lack.
