President Dr. Irfaan Ali is seeking to address the country’s inadequate labour force by encouraging Guyanese to take on more than one job. Labour shortages have been a major concern as the economy continues to grow.
Both local and international developers have lamented the need for more workers, particularly skilled professionals, and in some cases have had to import foreign labour where Guyanese are unavailable.
While the government has implemented various programmes to train and equip citizens for key sectors, President Ali has also pointed to the possibility of Guyanese working two jobs to fill vacancies. He explained this during the UK-based podcast The Rest is Politics: Leading with Alastair Campbell.
“Our work culture is shifting because of the growth of the economy… We are now incentivizing two jobs so that you get tax breaks on your second job. And that is because for the growth that is taking place we don’t have the size of the labour force. The human resource capital is just too small to fuel this growth that is taking place,” he said.
As part of efforts to fill workforce gaps, the president said a strategy is also being developed to attract skilled workers from the Diaspora.
“We are now finalising that human capital strategy which is linked to the migration strategy and the type of human capital that we need.”
In the area of healthcare, for example, the president noted that Guyana faces a major challenge as it seeks to build a modern health care system. Many local talents, and even those in the wider Caribbean, are being recruited by first world countries such as the United Kingdom. This, he explained, poses a problem for developing nations which must now struggle to bring back their skilled workers to support national development.
