‘On the job’: SJPI expands training to tackle construction labour crisis

The island’s top technical institute said Friday it’s ramping up its vocational training to combat a deepening labour shortage in the construction industry, as government, educators and industry sound the alarm over the lack of skilled workers entering the trades.

Principal of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI), Ian Drakes, told reporters that the institute is adapting its training to meet the urgent needs of contractors whilst building a sustainable pipeline of skilled workers.

“What happens is that people do not understand that it is a process,” Drakes said, following a signing ceremony held at the campus. “The demand of a contractor is that I have a job to do, I have 18 months. The demand of us and training is one to two years because we must understand that these are coming to us with zero knowledge of carpentry and joinery.

And therefore, we have addressed that through the construction gateway, short-term fixes to address some of the contractors’ needs. However, over time, we can produce those persons.”

Drakes said the SJPI had increased intake this year, particularly in plumbing: “We have two because of the demand and the feedback from the industry, and we have been very innovative. The ministry has been granted an extra budget in which we are able to bring in a new cohort of plumbers.

And when we did that, it was based on the demand not only of the industry, but our applicants. We saw so many enthusiastic applicants. We were able to get an instructor and now we have two cohorts, but it’s going to take two years.”

The move comes amid warnings from the construction industry about a worsening labour shortage. Construction magnate Mark Maloney said his businesses have struggled to secure enough workers to meet demand.

“We’re finding challenges not just getting people in general, even people from overseas,” he told Barbados TODAY.

Responding to Maloney’s comment, Drakes explained that the SJPI were employing short-term courses to meet immediate job needs: “While… Maloney may have a job that is going to finish in two years’ time, we still have to fix that through the Construction Gateway [Programme], where we’re doing short courses that can meet that demand while we fly this plane.

So we’re building the plane and still fixing the problem all at the same time.”

Henderson Eastmond, executive director of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council, also warned that Barbados is on the brink of a construction labour crisis that pay alone cannot resolve.

“Despite rising demand and market-driven salary increases, young Bajans continue to turn away from the trades, often citing the physical demands of the work,” he said, adding that long-standing cultural attitudes and an education system that sidelined vocational training have compounded the shortage.

Minister of Training and Tertiary Education Sandra Husbands said the government is stepping up training and on-the-job experience for students.

She said: “We have close to 100 graduates this year who would have gone through the Construction Gateway [Programme] and Cabinet just approved our extension of the training. We’re moving the on-the-job training and increasing it by an additional four weeks… We’re also going to be working with [the Rural and Urban Development Commission] where we need to fix homes for seniors, we need to do things in the community, and this is where the students will get the practice so that the contractors now can say, oh yes, I see the work that they’ve done, they have the skills, they’re showing an aptitude. I can afford to hire them.”

Husbands added that contractors are already signalling willingness to engage students on real projects: “The prime minister held a meeting with the contractors’ group two weeks ago, and what they indicated is that they’re going to be willing to take our students on their projects because they really, really need the skills.” (SZB)