The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Department of Labour yesterday urged Bahamians students abroad to register for potential job openings at home, in a bid to reduce the dependence on foreign labour.

Robert Farquharson, director of labour, said the number of work permits issued by the Immigration Department would likely fall if there was more awareness about the availability of qualified Bahamian graduates.

Mr Farquharson, who was a panellist at the College of the Bahamas’ ‘Day of Economic Discussion’, told Tribune Business that 18,982 people were registered with the Department of Labour in 2015.

He said that figure included 300 registrants who possessed professional degrees. “As a result of the recent public relations campaign, we had about 300 Bahamians who registered with professional agrees, Bachelors and Masters degrees,” said Mr Farquharson.

“We have had a very good response from Bahamian professionals. We are now targeting those Bahamians in colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. We are trying to get them to also register with us.

“We know that if a Bahmian is coming out of college or university in two years, we have that option. We can say to an employer that this work permit can’t be for five years because in two years we will have persons available for that position who are qualified.”

Mr Farquharson said every work permit should be accompanied by a Labour Certificate. “We in the Department of Labour are responsible for issuing those certificates. That issuance is based on the Bahamiansiation policy where we have to identify a Bahamian,” he explained.

“If they are suitable and available to fill that job, they should be given first preference. If there is no Bahamian available, then that employer should identify a Bahamian to be trained at a training programme to make sure that there is knowledge transfer, so that at the end of the work permit period a Bahamian can fill that job. That is the basic principle.”

Mr Farquharson said the Labour Department had seen a decrease in the number of ‘tricks’ used by employers to circumvent that principle.

“We have been investigating these tactics and, in instances where we found abuse, we denied the work permit and Labour Certificate,” he added.

“The weakness we have in the system is that for a number of jobs we have a number of Bahamians qualified, but they are not registered with the Department of Labour. We went on a campaign to encourage Bahamians who qualify with degrees to register.”