The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The “backbone of Bahamian society” is under threat from the high unemployment and skills gaps undermining the 20-something generation, with AML Foods’ top executive warning: “We all have an obligation to fix this.”

Gavin Watchorn told Tribune Business that current job and social trends were “not a great barometer” for the Bahamas’s short-term future, given that today’s 20-30 age group would soon form the bedrock of society.

The BISX-listed food and franchise group’s chief executive said it was following the playbook established last week by Baha Mar chief, Sarkis Izmirlian, by focusing on workforce training and development as the priority for its 2015 financial year.

“The one thing we’re going to be focusing on, and picking up on what Sarkis Izmirlian is saying, is our plans for training and development,” Mr Watchorn told Tribune Business.

“Quite frankly, it’s got to be done. A great concern for us is human capital and available talent, especially in the young age groups.”

The AML Foods chief executive warned that the worldwide problems afflicting ‘Generation Y’, which he used to describe 20-30 year-olds, were being exacerbated in the Bahamas by the failings of the education system and the resulting ‘skills gaps’ in the workforce.

He suggested that this potent combination was responsible for almost one in three young Bahamians, aged between 16 to 25 years-old, being unemployed.

“We’ve got the same ‘Generation Y’ problems - instant gratification and life revolves around me,” Mr Watchorn told Tribune Business. “That’s not a Bahamian problem; that’s worldwide problem in the 20-25 and 30 age group.

“When you marry that with the skills gaps and education, it’s not surprising to me that there is a high level of unemployment in that age group.”

Mr Watchorn’s sentiments this echo many of those expressed by Mr Izmirlian, who last week blasted successive Bahamian governments for “unfulfilled promises” to reform the education system and close many of the ‘skills gaps’ that exist in the labour force.

Analysing the wider consequences for Bahamian society, Mr Watchorn, whose group operates the Solomon’s SuperCentre, Solomon’s Fresh Market and Cost Right formats, said: “It’s not a great barometer for the short-term future of the country because the 20 year-olds of today will be the backbone of this country in 15-20 years’ time.

“That’s our great focus this year; taking the current employee group, and how to develop them personally, and for the betterment of the country and ourselves.”

The AML Foods chief said the Bahamas would be relying on the current 20-something generation to form the majority of its mortgage and school-fee payers when they hit the 35-40 age bracket, and implied that current prospects were not promising.

Mr Watchorn warned that all elements of the private sector had to play their part in resolving the Bahamas’ education, skills and labour productivity crisis, as the Government could not do it by itself.

“I think companies have to do their part,” he told Tribune Business. “The Government is not going to do it by themselves. The problem is so entrenched, we have to help them figure it out.

“If you push forward 20 years from now, if this current generation is not the backbone of society, where will it be? We all have an obligation to fix this.”