Labour and Social Security Minister, Pearnel Charles Jr, has announced that the Government will soon embark on evaluating the types of skillsets which persons who are brought into the island from overseas for employment possess.
Charles Jr made the announcement while hosting a courtesy call from Ambassador-designate to China and former Government Senator, Arthur Williams, last Thursday.
The minister said the close evaluation of work permits will be part of measures to further boost the quality of Jamaica's labour force.
But Charles Jr has expressed a desire for those entering the country for work to be shadowed by apprentices.
"We have a lot of persons, when we examine our work permits, coming from China to do work in Jamaica (for example)," he said.
"We'd like to see how we can evaluate the types of skillsets that we are bringing into Jamaica for work, and to ensure that we are able to have skilled persons that can be accompanied by apprentices to help to further develop our labour force into a mature, modernise force that is ready to take on the global opportunities and prepare to confront the global challenges that we are going to face and we are already facing in terms of the evolution of the labour market that's going to impact us," Charles Jr outlined.
He pointed to Jamaica's unemployment rate, which has fallen to its lowest levels in its history, of 4.5 per cent as of April 2023.
"... However, that poses an issue in terms of the availability of labour of certain categories. And so, these are discussions that we have to have with countries like China," the minister stressed.
The Government has repeatedly underscored the need for more skilled workers in the country, and as a result, efforts have been made to boost skills training access among the nation's youths.
Calls have also been made by some private sector interests and Government officials for the importation of skilled labour from overseas to fill the labour shortages in some sectors locally.
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