{"id":243855,"date":"2003-08-12T20:55:46","date_gmt":"2003-08-13T00:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2003\/08\/govt-fears-shortage-of-skilled-workers"},"modified":"2003-08-12T20:55:46","modified_gmt":"2003-08-13T00:55:46","slug":"govt-fears-shortage-of-skilled-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2003\/08\/govt-fears-shortage-of-skilled-workers","title":{"rendered":"Gov't Fears Shortage Of Skilled Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

As executives of the Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma start a major recruitment drive for 400 people this week and the phase III expansion project at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island gets underway, the government is seeking to increase the skills capacity of Bahamian workers to meet the growing demand of the tourism industry.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Officials expect that those Bahamians who are now unemployed or underemployed will begin stepping forward for positions that will become available when the projects already announced materialize.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Prime Minister Perry Christie, meanwhile, has promised that several thousand jobs will soon become available from the projects underway on Paradise Island and on a number of other islands.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Last year, officials at the Department of Statistics reported that the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent, from the 6.1 percent rate recorded in 2001\uffa0 <\/SPAN><\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet told The Bahama Journal on Monday that the government is taking measures to meet that demand such as upgrading the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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"We know that there is a shortage [of skilled workers] and we now have to find the formula to provide as many skilled Bahamian workers as possible," he said <\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Minister Peet said he wanted as many Bahamians who wanted to work to participate in the Four Seasons' recruitment exercise. <\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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"The demand is going to be very great and that's why Bahamians who want to work can now step forward and find decent jobs and I call upon them to please come forward and be part of it," he said.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Minister Peet said the more skilled Bahamians there are, the less the need for foreign workers to be employed in the country.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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"But to ensure that the businesses of these resorts are completed, there is a need for proper man power and if Bahamians aren't available then we will have to review the situation," he said.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Government officials are welcoming the 400 jobs in Exuma, which are expected to become available by October 1.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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The Four Seasons Resort at Emerald Bay, Exuma is slated to open on November 1. <\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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The recruitment drive begins in Exuma at the St. Andrew's Community Centre from August 14 and will run through August 16.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Four Seasons executives will continue the exercise in New Providence from August 28 to 30 at the Sir Kendal G.L. Isaacs Gymnasium.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Director of Human Resources at the Four Seasons Resort Tracie Wiese told the Bahama Journal that the 400 positions available include a vast array of line staff positions as well as positions for managerial staff.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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She said she was confident that resort executives will find the workers they are looking for to meet their opening date of November 1.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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"We're pretty confident that we will get the staff we need and we will have an intensive training programme. Once the resort opens, we'll have additional time to do some on the job training as well," Ms. Wiese said. <\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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She also said that salaries at the resort are competitive with other properties in the hospitality industry and that there is housing for those relocating to Exuma to work at the resort. <\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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"We have a limited staff housing unit available for those people moving to Exuma that will assist with their relocation once they arrive here," she said.<\/o_p><\/SPAN><\/P>
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Government officials are also hoping that the development slated for Crab Cay will help revitalize Exuma's economy and that the same will happen for other Family Islands.<\/SPAN><\/P>
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By Julian Reid, The Nassau Guardian<\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/SPAN><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet told The Bahama Journal on Monday that the government is taking measures to meet that demand such as upgrading the BTVI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}