By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute's (BTVI) president is arguing that skills gaps within the Bahamian workforce have actually widened over the past decade based on recent survey results.

Dr Robert Robertson, speaking to Tribune Business following last week's panel discussion with private sector, training and labour executives on the results of BTVI's workforce survey, said it was a "cause for concern" that 60 percent of employers view the labour force as uncompetitive when measured against global rivals.

"So the survey, I think you may have heard, is kind of like a response to the fact that everybody quotes an IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) survey in 2012, and that's obviously about eight years-old now," he explained.

"We needed more current information. So, in discussions with the Department of Labour and the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), we put this survey together and we issued it in the late summer of 2019. We sent it out to 600 companies and we got 155 responses."

"I think that's a pretty normal response rate, as it is in the 25 percent response range. Most of them were from chief executive officers, people who knew about their companies. The responses are similar to what occurred in 2012 but I think the gap has actually widened, which isn't a big surprise."

Dr Robertson said the findings matched similar surveys undertaken in major industrialised countries such as Canada, the US and Europe. He added that one study suggested the UK faced a "skills chasm", which indicated that The Bahamas was not alone in facing such skills and labour shortages.

Suggesting that BTVI's survey should be undertaken every two years, so that improvements or failures can be benchmarked and measured, the BTVI president said of the latest findings: "It's a cause for alarm, but I think it is fairly common because over the years we have not paid a lot of attention to technical and vocational training in some respects.

"The other problem is that there is an aging workforce in the US and in Canada. It's not such a big problem in The Bahamas, but Bahamian-trained people will be pulled into Canada, they will be pulled into the US, because they will be able to make more money.

"So the aging workforce globally, although we don't think it's a big deal in The Bahamas because we don't have that problem to the same extent they do in those other countries, it is a big problem because I know those other countries are out there looking for welders and electricians and those types of people. That marketplace globally will attract Bahamian to better dollars, quite frankly."

Turning to how BTVI and Bahamian education institutions are addressing the problem, Dr Robertson said: "One of the things was to add the free-tuition to both UB (University of The Bahamas) and to BTVI, so we have seen an increase in some students in some specific fields, particularly the trades, where perhaps they wouldn't have gone before.

"We have also seen that companies are increasingly coming to us and asking us to tailor a specific programme for them, particularly if it includes a City and Guilds certification. So we have agreements with specific companies like the Container Port in Freeport, the Grand Bahama Shipyard, Baha Mar, Commonwealth Brewery. A lot of companies are asking for that level of training to improve the skills of their employees, so we have been doing a lot more of that in the last two or three years."

Dr Robertson continued: "We are also doing a lot of short courses, and I think that's one of the big things that education needs to recognise. Education needs to change to meet the demands of the employees, but also the employers. Most people who are employed may be in an entry-level job, don't want to come back into a programme that will take them one or two years to finish - maybe six months to a year at the most - and that's about it.

"I have seen in different jurisdictions, and we are trying to do this here, that there is more of a short-term specific set of programmes. Maybe dump the Math and the English, for example, which is also a problem for some of our students. Maybe go to a programme that's just welding, or just carpentry, or just brick laying and make sure they are good brick layers, they're good carpenters, you know what I mean? I think that's the way forward.

"The other thing we've been trying to do is reach into the schools, not only the high schools, but even the elementary schools," Dr Robertson added. "We actually take young children on tours of the campus and we show them a carpentry lab, we show them an auto mechanics lab, we show them a welding lab and we structure so they can see it.

"They can maybe touch some of the stuff. We talk to them about what's going on and we talk to them about careers. It takes a bit of time to do that, but you catch them early and you at least get them to see the options that are available.

"We also have a dual enrolment programme where we have high school students studying college credits, and we have over 600 students this term who are in high school that are taking trade-related courses, so when they finish their high school these kids have a lot of options open for them."

Don Forbes, training manager for the Grand Bahama Shipyard, who was also at last week's panel discussion, told Tribune Business: "I think the panel discussion really highlighted the skills gap that we have in our society, the unemployment - mainly among our youth - and how do we prepare for tomorrow. There is a need for a trained workforce.

"I think there is a need for the government to give more of their attention than they are giving now. There is a Skills Council for a National Apprentice Training Programme that's coming on stream, and I'm a part of that... It is designed to take young persons who are unskilled and get them more prepared on a national level for these companies when they come so they can find jobs."

When asked by Tribune Business about the impact skills gaps and an inadequately trained workforce are having on the economy, Mr Forbes said: "If you have an untrained workforce, you are pretty much saying the trained persons are not from here. If you don't have a trained workforce to do these jobs that's money that's automatically leaving the country, so you have to have your persons skilled.

"Now we can ask for them to get jobs all we want, but you have to be concerned about the companies because companies need skilled people in order for them to compete, and the only way they are going to compete is if they have a skilled workforce employees. So we have to train our youth that are unskilled up to that level, and like I said, some interest must paid to it."

Chandler Sands, vice-chairman of the Maritime Skills Sector Council, who was also at last week's panel discussion, told Tribune Business: "The only thing I want to say is that it's a great initiative to start to address the challenges that we face with employees not being quite ready for employment. This initiative will go a long way with closing that bridge that currently exist with skills gaps."

The Ministry of Labour, in conjunction with the IDB, last year launched a $50m National Skills Building Programme, which included a Bahamas Apprenticeship programme to meet the needs of employers in high-growth sectors of the economy by providing job seekers between 16-40 years old with the necessary skills.

The Bahamas Apprenticeship programme will feature structured on-the-job and off-the-job training, during which participants will learn a skilled occupation and gain an industry-recognised certification.