The availability of skilled persons in Guyana has been described as a major challenge to the full-scale launch of the mining operations of Troy Resources Guyana.
This is according to Troy Resources Executive Director (Project Management) Ken Nilsson. Speaking to the Guyana Times during an exclusive interview on Tuesday, Nilsson related that the company’s full-scale operations will require some 500 persons and while the company was desirous of providing employment opportunities solely for the Guyanese people, it was facing an uphill task in finding the right persons for the jobs.
Troy Resources Executive Director (Project Management) Ken Nilsson “Finding qualified people is always a challenge for us. Generally, the people we find do not have the experience and qualifications that we need. We want to give Guyanese the jobs, that is why we have not brought anyone from Australia or Canada or Brazil (other countries in which the Australian gold mining company operates), but we are having difficulties in finding the right persons for the right jobs, especially in the technical areas,” Nilsson stated.
As such, the Executive Director told the Guyana Times that the company now has to invest in bringing skilled persons from other countries to train the Guyanese before any work can commence. “The fact that we want the jobs to remain with the Guyanese means that we have to bring our people from Australia to train them, work with them, before they can do the job,” Nilsson added.
The official noted that he understood that while there were many qualified and skilled Guyanese, the salaries and opportunities offered in the country for employees were not competitive enough to prevent migration. To this end, he stated that more must be done by the Public and the Private Sectors to encourage people to remain in Guyana so that the country could be developed to its full potential.
“The fact of the matter is that they aren’t being paid enough so no one is attracted to stay. So incentives will have to be offered,” he said.
At present, the Executive Director disclosed that the company was trying to entice Guyanese who would have migrated to the United States and Canada to return home and work for the company.
“We are trying to get people back into the country, especially those from the United States and Canada. If you want to run a successful institution, then you need the skilled people, you need the right persons,” Nilsson remarked.
80 per cent of graduates migrate
Back in July, the local Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) registered their concerns over revelations that more than 80 per cent of the country’s graduates and skilled workers have been emigrating.
The organisations, at that time, had noted that they were not only concerned but alarmed as well, since this would mean that the operations, expansion and growth of the Private Sector and subsequently, the economy will be greatly affected, since these workers were the most crucial ones for the development of the country.
According to the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) Human Development Report of 2009, the migration of graduates and skilled workers had stood at 76.9 per cent, but had increased over the years. A recently-concluded study conducted by Simona Vezzoli, a researcher from the International Migration Institute (IMI), Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford, England, revealed that about 80 per cent (8 of every 10) of our university graduates and skilled workers leave for another country.
While Guyanese emigrants have moved to places such as the United Kingdom and the Caribbean islands, they are most abundant in the United States of America and Canada, with some 78.6 per cent of them living there. At present, Guyana has an emigration rate of close to 50 per cent with approximately 780,000 Guyanese residing abroad, compared to the 747,884 which make up the country’s current population. Among the 780,000 are, of course, the country’s top university graduates and skilled workers.
Incentives
Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Abraham Subnauth related that it was alarming to know that the country’s most educated and capable were emigrating. Subnauth noted that the emigration of the trained and skilled labour force was tremendously affecting private operators in the country.
He said while Guyana has, in recent times, experienced growth and has had numerous investors coming on board, many more businessmen had expressed a willingness to invest and expand their businesses in Guyana, but these plans have been hampered by the lack of a substantial skilled and educated workforce.
“Even at a premium wage of $6000, a day you do not have people to work and it’s frustrating to those who have businesses. You cannot expand, because there is no one to fill the capacities you want filled. Growth is stifled,” Subnauth opined.
According to the GCCI’s Attitudinal Study, which was conducted in early 2014, 36 per cent of entrepreneurs in Guyana disclosed that one of the biggest obstacles to their businesses’ success was the inability to source and keep skilled persons in their employ. All of these persons reportedly left the country for what they termed “a better life” or “better opportunities”.
The two Private Sector officials posited that many were migrating to the continent of North America to live “the American dream” and if Guyana were to regain its citizens and more so, its graduates, the country’s leaders will have to step up to the mantle. “The US have the “American dream”, promises them a house, a car, a good job with a matching salary.
“The Government can work on systems which can offer graduates a reason to stay here in Guyana. Someone graduates – jobs, maybe a duty-free concession or a house lot at an affordable cost. It will not stop migration, but it can reduce it,” they noted.
TRY Price at posting:
72.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
