The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Chamber of Commerce has expressed concern about the “ad hoc” organisation of the Government’s apprenticeship scheme, a key component in a $50 million scheme to improve workforce productivity and employment prospects.

Edison Sumner, the Chamber’s chief executive, called for the apprenticeship programme to be given “more focused attention”, given uncertainties about the role the private sector advocacy body will play.

Calling for the scheme to be “better defined”, Mr Sumner said the Chamber had initially been asked to assist in finding companies willing to take on apprentices only to learn that government agencies were contacting employers directly.

While backing the Government’s decision to implement a nationwide apprenticeship scheme, and expressing the Chamber’s desire to work with it on the initiative, Mr Sumner said improved co-ordination between the different parties was essential.

“I don’t think it has been given the level of attention it should have been given,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business of the apprenticeship initiative in a recent interview.

“It seems a bit ad hoc in the way it has been approached. The Chamber was initially on it, it went quiet, and then we were asked for our views three to four weeks ago. We need to look at that, and it needs to be clearly defined.”

Asked about its role, Mr Sumner added: “They were initially asking the Chamber to assist in placing individuals with the private sector, but I believe government agencies have been contacting employers themselves.

“It needs co-ordination. It has some strong merits to it, but needs a little more focused attention for getting it done.”

The apprenticeship programme, whose virtues have previously been extolled by Prime Minister Perry Christie, is taking up $22.334 million of a $50 million joint venture between the Government and Inter-American Development Bank.

The ‘Skills for Current and Future Jobs in the Bahamas’ project sees apprenticeship, with its emphasis on ‘on-the-job’ training, as key to young and unemployed Bahamians acquiring the skills and necessary experience that will endear them to employers, and enable them to find sustainable employment.

IDB documents seen by Tribune Business show that the apprenticeship programme is targeted at 1,350 persons, who will be trained over a 12-month period, with some 80 per cent of the learning ‘on-the-job’.

The three sectors targeted for the apprenticeship initiative are the maritime, medical and information technology/communications industries on the grounds that they will be exhibiting the fastest growth in the immediate future.

“These sectors were selected based on their expected expansion through new investments, and therefore high potential for growth, and considerations for implementation of the apprenticeship programme in the Family Islands,” the IDB said.

“The maritime, and IT and telecommunication sector, currently, the ‘Transport, Storage and Communications’ industry within which these two sectors are included, account for approximately 10 per cent of employment in the Bahamas. This share, however, is expected to grow substantially over the new few years.

“In terms of the maritime and medical services sectors, important new investments are being made in Freeport in the island of Grand Bahama.”

The IDB added that tourism, construction and financial services were not included, even though they accounted for almost 50 per cent of Bahamian gross domestic product (GDP), “to contribute to the diversification of the Bahamian economy and to avoid duplication of existing efforts”.

And, in a negative sign for the Bahamas’ financial services industry, the IDB said: “The financial services industry was not included due to the fact that employment generation in this industry has seen a decrease over the last few years, presumably leading to decreased demand for apprenticeship places.”

The apprenticeship initiative, to which the IDB is contributing $10 million and the Government the remaining $12 million, is designed to consolidate such programmes already underway at the Grand Bahama Shipyard and Baker’s Bay’s construction programme.

“Apprenticeship programmes are well-placed to deal with skills shortages,” the IDB report said. “Evidence indicates that countries with apprenticeship programmes have lower rates and duration of youth unemployment.

“The apprenticeship programme will also help consolidate a network of off-the-job training providers, using the existing capacity of well-established institutions such as BTVI and other public and private training bodies.

“Some of the costs related to the on-the-job training portion will be covered directly by participating firms, while the loan will provide support for small and medium enterprises within the selected sectors, and with a minimum structure to take on an apprentice with structured training.

“The off-the-job training, will be financed by the Government. [It] will also finance a portion (50 per cent) of the apprentice wage stipend for 1,350 apprentices.”

The IDB added, though, that the Government approving changes to the existing Apprenticeship Act was a condition to releasing its share of the financing, given that the current legislation was inadequate for the new scheme.

“The Apprenticeship Act of the Bahamas, which is the legal framework to regulate apprenticeships nationally, came into effect on January 1, 1983. Any new programme needs to be underpinned by an amended version of the Apprenticeship Act,” the IDB said.

“The Government has expressed that initial work for the Apprenticeship Programme can be started via an MOU, while an amended version of the Act is approved. This is a condition prior to first disbursement.”