Jamaica’s problems with skilled labour force
IN NOVEMBER of 2023, when Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that, “…the nation may need to contemplate a programme of controlled and enhanced admission of people from overseas to supplement its labour force”, I was genuinely very surprised. As far as I am aware, Jamaica has a plentitude of young and middle-aged men who perform the jobs of skilled labourers.
The prime minister’s statement made me question my impression of our labour force, and it also made me wonder if the problem was not in the number of skilled labourers, but in the number of proficient skilled labourers.
My personal and vicarious experiences with most skilled workers (tradesmen) bring back very painful memories. As a rule, tradesmen seek the highest possible fees for their service. And, if you are an educated professional, God help you. It may surprise you to learn that, although an indeterminate number of them make many millions annually, the government considers that, as a group, they are itinerant and intermittent workers, and are therefore allowed to remain under the income tax radar.
The last contractor that we hired started off appearing to be reasonable. However, after we were ‘hooked’, his fees increased, and we had no way of changing him and his team mid-stream. Not only did he charge exorbitant fees, but we subsequently learnt that he oversaw a litany of pilfering from the site.
CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY
You must consider yourself lucky when you find a good, reasonable, and honest construction worker. Our tiler shortcut the job by not ‘buttering’ the undersurface of the tiles with thinset. This resulted in the tiles lifting, sometimes literally exploding all over the place. The grille guy presented a very neat and pleasing sample of the grilles that he was making for the home. However, when he installed the final products, they were crude, asymmetrical and had a boring pattern. It was too late to demand that he do them over because we would have to pay for new material.
After the building was completed, we were experiencing serious plumbing issues. One day my wife and I confronted the plumber and asked why it was that a new home had so many plumbing problems. The fellow had an attack of conscience and confessed by saying, “Everybody tief yuh, time fi me tief yuh now”. He went on to tell us how the container of supplies that we had stocked was operated like a shop in our absence. We also learnt that trucks would back up and remove building material like blocks, cement, lumber, and steel.
The electrician was also an egregious offender. He was hired as a ‘so-called’ licensed electrician by the contractor. I became wary of him when the people from whom I bought the electrical supplies asked if I was building a plaza. He was ordering far more than necessary so that he could steal from us. His terrible work caused breakers to trip, bulbs to blow, and connections to spark and smoulder.
He refused revisit the site and we were forced to hire someone else. It was only then that we were informed that the former electrician also badly overcharged for his work, did not ground the building, swapped out most of the wires that I bought with old and damaged wires, and stole an entire spool of coaxial cable. It cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct his job. Shockingly, somehow, he got the building passed.
Skilled workers have a habit of ‘marking’ their jobs; just like animals mark their territory. They do this by starting jobs and promising each work site to return the next day or a few days later. But sometimes, because they take on so many jobs at the same time, that rotation takes weeks. Because of this, individual jobs can last an inordinately long time, and the mad rush to get to another site causes many errors.
BAD WORK ATTITUDES.
Some of our youths do not want to work hard for a living, they want quick and easy fortunes. Hence the scamming, cybercrime, burglaries, robberies, and murder for hire. And, even if they have a skill, several company owners have explained to me that Jamaican workers tend to have bad work attitudes. They work slowly, take many breaks, are habitually absent, and are generally undependable. Consequently, currently, some companies are importing foreign workers and are seeking to acquire more. They need to ensure that important projects get done.
Not all skilled Jamaican workers are problematic. When some migrate, they become excellent at their profession. They do very well for themselves and help to develop businesses, communities, and that society. To be fair, perhaps that environment motivates them because the compensation that they receive enables them to support themselves and their family while acquiring a car and a home.
Jamaican economy does not permit most people who earn active incomes to demand compensation to keep up with the cost of living while achieving their goals, and to prepare for a rainy day and retirement.
I believe that skilled workers should be registered and placed on a website that allows potential employers to see if they are what they claim to be, if they are certified or not, if there are complaints about them, their work attitude, their efficiency, and if they have a history of criminality. This would help to protect employers and encourage skilled workers to do better.