‘Work-ready people needed’

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THE private sector moves at a speed which is faster than changes that are taking place to close the gaps in the industry and its need for work-ready people.

While sharing his views on the topic “Future of Fiji workforce – Global Perspective, Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation president Vinay Narsey said it was important to have workready individuals.

Mr Narsey said it was equally

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important to have people who had soft skills to match the areas of work that were in need of qualified work-ready people.

“We do say that diplomas, certificates and degrees are important, but we think skill specifics are also needed.

“I think industry skills and specifics are much more sought after than qualifications in some fields.”

The manufacturing sector had been struggling for the past 10 years with skills shortage being a huge challenge.

Mr Narsey said the industry had pointed out over and over again the mismatch between the industry needs and the individuals who come out of the education institutions.

As employers, Mr Narsey said they did not have any problems with labour mobility.

“It is normal for people to seek out greener pastures, however, we already have people who are skilled and specialised and ready to move out to other countries for work.”

Mr Narsey said in some cases they were losing out on people who were trained by the organisations in Fiji. According to Mr Narsey, most times business organisations did not talk about the training costs which are huge. However, businesses are not in a position to stop investing in training their people.

“That is because if you want to see change then you need to invest in training.”

Mr Narsey said poaching was not the answer in Fiji and called for a sustainable model that would work for both parties.