THE NUMBER of persons who continue to abscond on the Ministry of Labour's Overseas Employment programme is of major concern to that ministry.
This is according to Barrington Bailey, senior director of Manpower Services at the ministry.
"As we often say, one person running off, is one too many," said Mr. Bailey in an interview with The Gleaner.
While the figure so far this year is less than last year, Mr. Bailey said that this problem continues to be a major concern, which he said undermines the programme.
Last year, more than 200 persons ran off on the United States and Canadian programmes. So far, Mr. Bailey said that the number of persons who ran off on the programmes is less than 200.
Mr. Bailey accused relatives residing in these countries as contributing to the problem.
"Nine out of 10 times, the persons who run off are influenced by relatives who live in the United States and Canada. Many times they encourage them to run off and this is very bad for the programme," he said.
To address the problem, Mr. Bailey said: "We are trying to continue education of persons but more so to their relatives."
The ministry's Overseas Employment Programme sourced some 13,569 jobs during last year. Since January to June the country received US$2 million in remittances from the programme. At the end of 2004, the programme drew in US$12 million in remittances.
- Dionne Rose
