How to Create Quality Jobs for Caribbean People

Finding quality jobs for the Caribbean’s people, especially the younger generation, must be high on the region’s development agenda.

That’s the view of the CARICOM Commission on the Economy, which recommends that these quality jobs be flexible, creative, and linked to technology somehow.

One of the Commissioners, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also suggests that avenues for itinerant work opportunities must open up. She, therefore, encourages the decision-makers in CARICOM to press ahead with faster integrated regional transport that allows for easier movement of people, goods and services, and more unrestrained movement of labour. Such a system, she argues, will enable young people to explore job opportunities within CARICOM, thereby filling gaps in those countries where there may be missing skills.

She’s also of the view that this approach “will facilitate entrepreneurship.” “Millennials are known globally to value creativity, flexibility, and social impact in their jobs; in essence, many of them value entrepreneurship. A freer CARICOM lends itself to openings for entrepreneurial talent,” she commented in the document.

How will we provide these quality jobs? The commissioners opine that the region can create such jobs by building out its resilience to adapt to and mitigate climate change. They explain that as the region focuses on resilience, more sustainable and green jobs will spring up. “Green jobs in the urban space, in infrastructure, in services, and food and land use should open up as avenues to building resilience,” the Commissioners advise.

The commissioners acknowledge that creating resilience is costly and challenging in light of the fiscal limitations that countries face. However, they advise that building resilience in communities in societies is cheaper than mopping up the floods after an eventuality. The Commissioner’s views reflect growing concern worldwide, especially among the young, for more focused investment in protecting the environment and thereby safeguarding our future.

The Central Bank of Barbados is affording all Caribbean people the opportunity to hear more about these and other recommendations in the Commission’s report during the Caribbean Economic Forum discussion on “Putting People at the Centre of Development in the Caribbean” on Thursday, June 3, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. in Barbados (7:00 p.m. in Jamaica). The forum will be livestreamed on the Central Bank’s website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel and broadcast on television stations across the region.

Commission Chair and Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of Barbados on Investment and Financial Services, Professor Avinash Persaud and fellow Commissioner and Executive Director of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) Dr. Damien King along with Dr. Jan Yves Remy, Deputy Director, Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services are the panellists. The panel will also take questions from the online audience.

Learn more about the Caribbean Economic Forum.