Abaco job fair slated for end of next month
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A Cabinet minister yesterday acknowledged that the country continues to grapple with a significant “skills gap” and said skills training must be improved upon.
“We are working closely with the Department of Labour,” Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry, and Immigration Elsworth Johnson said.
“I have met with a company recently. We told the company and are reinforcing the fact that there are a lot of persons out of work. Unless you can’t find that skilled labor and/or your heads of agreement says that your director and other persons should come, we are scrutinizing all those applications.
“Abaco presents a peculiar situation. We did a job fair there and intend to do one at the end of October. They need skilled persons.
“In terms of our skills training, we need to improve on that. We are receiving a lot of complaints that everyone with a hammer is not a carpenter.”
However, Johnson said while the need for skilled labor is great, where there is a Bahamian qualified to do a particular job they will be given priority.
Abaco Chamber of Commerce President Ken Hutton previously told Eyewitness News the lack of available skilled labor threatens to hamper the pace of reconstruction on storm-ravaged Abaco.
Hurricane Dorian decimated communities in Abaco and Grand Bahama in September 2019.
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