Employers across Barbados are generally dissatisfied with the level of readiness for the workforce among young people leaving secondary and tertiary learning institutions here.
This is according to Chief Executive Officer of Pinelands Creative Workshop Sophia Greaves-Broome, who pointed out that research carried out in 2007 and again in 2011, showed that there were several barriers that prevented more graduates finding a job.
Those research findings identified males and females between the ages of 15 and 24 as being most at risk, with most of the barriers to them finding gainful employment being poor basic education, poor work ethics, lack of marketable skills, and lack of work experience.
Greaves-Broome pointed out that between 2017 and 2018 the Ministry of Labour carried out a similar survey funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) through the Skills for the Future programme.
“The research findings revealed that employers in all sectors were generally still unsatisfied with the skills displayed by school leavers whether secondary or tertiary,” said Greaves-Broome.
“Concerns were with the inadequate level of adaptability, the ability to collaborate, poor communication and conflict resolution, poor customer service, decision-making and time management skills and work ethics. Overall the soft skills of secondary school leavers were of high concern. It was also suggested that this type of personal and professional development gap can be of a significant barrier to employment,” she explained.
Greaves-Broome was addressing the Pinelands Creative Workshop’s 19th annual Career and Life Management (CALM) programme at the office of the IDB on Monday.
The ten-day event, which will see sessions continuing at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus in The Pine, St Michael in coming days, is being held under the theme Employ-Ability, and will engage students from secondary schools in high-level discussions on varying angles related to the labour market and the preparation for the world of work.
Greaves-Broome called for attention to be redirected to developing skills in the areas of problem solving, critical thinking, team work, communication and conflict resolution, adding that it was the collective duty of civil society, and the private and public sectors to ensure quality education was provided to young people.
“The world will continue to shift, but in the interest of our children, are we keeping up, are we aligning our education with the demands and creative industries, blue and green economies and other new and emerging areas that could be avenues for economic sustainability at the individual and national levels?” she asked. She welcomed Government’s decision to move away from the 11-plus examination system, adding that she hoped the new system would look to an education from a sustainable development angle and an international perspective”.
Minister in the Ministry of Investment Marsha Caddle insisted that for individuals and the country to experience sustainable growth and development, there would be need for more engagement with young people in “the things that matter to them”.
As such, she said the Mia Mottley-led administration was focused on seven main pillars to achieve a growth strategy, which included investing in areas that would benefit the youth.
These, she said included “reinvesting in education and skills, reinvesting in public health, investing in climate resilient infrastructure, resetting fiscal policy, reinventing Government, reforming our financial system . . . and reengaging with CARICOM (Caribbean Community)”.
Caddle said for the next 50 years Barbados should have an education system that “has a certain level of flexibility”, while welcoming the planned move away from the 11-plus examination.
“Education is not just about employability. It is education for life. It is about being able to live meaningful lives and create agencies so that you understand why you are making decisions and how those decisions are important to you and the people around you. It is really about being able to live a life that we all value,” she said.
Project Manager at the Maria Holder Memorial Trust Ruchelle Roach said there was need for more education and awareness among parents about the new and emerging sectors, as she called on individuals here to move away “from the doctor, lawyer, bank manager mode of thinking”.
“We are seeing a trend where more and more young people are moving into the non-traditional areas of employment and we have to prepare the youth for the changing dynamics,” she said.
Meanwhile, IDB representative Juan Carlos De La Hoz Vinas urged students to be bold and ask all the questions they could about career options they were interested in as they prepare to enter the world of work.
Employers should stop being so harsh on young school leavers and give them a chance to get the experience. They are just that, young, and willing to be molded into productive young people. And on the other hand I would like to appeal to all young school leavers to take advantage of the resources within the guidance counselors and placement centres offices in schools. It helped me a lot.
One thing we do in Trinidad is that while you are getting your university degrees they ensure that you are prepared for the work environment
im sure some young people are dissapointed in employers and the pay and work conditions that are being offered….it goes both ways…
The things that older people will stand for young people ain’t like employer not respecting your rights want people does 3 people jobs poor pay and treat worker bad
I just dont know why this kind of bs does be news. For 7 dollars an hour u ppl want harvard grads. Lord when would the labor laws be look at in BIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Is this really a surprise at this point. First off lets blame the parents for having their children waste tax payers money to go to school with empty bags and be non-productive. I see many young people coming to apply for jobs where I work and many of them can’t even spell, much less speak properly. Gone are the days when you dressed decent when going job hunting. Secondly the schools are also to blame for allowing these children go through the system and not even be able to spell or count right. Teachers today are just interested in a pay check and many of them no longer go beyond the call of duty for these children. I remember my grandmother always use to say she ain’t have all the fancy certificates and degrees but at least she know how to read and write and count and budget her money. Thirdly the young people themselves are to blame for their demises as many of them have little to no respect for themselves. They are more focus on being social media sensations. Time to get back to basics folks because without a solid foundation the structure will crumble.
The major issues, linking jobs to paper qualifications,, Does qualification brings with it ,the required technologies and are these new person entering the jobs market , in anyway have been trained to start new businesses…….
The major problems confronting young people, are they jobs to go around,
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Pointing out , people have no real working power as before, Robots and automation has given the employers the upper hand, the manufacturing industry has lost tens of millions jobs over the last decades, we now are left with a specialize service industry with new technologies…..
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If we are not educating our young people for the 21st century technologies,, we are just wasting time ….. We need people with the infrastructure technologies, for them and our country to survive ……….
All we seems to be doing is off loading large groups of Attorneys on our country , year after year………….
Why are school leavers, before leaving, not given the opportunity to experience the workplace. This is what government and Corporate Barbados have to sit down and work out together. Stop moaning and start doing! You all know this was an issue from day dot!!
Now this here is a payed advertisement you sound stupid.
An abundance of young people leaving school just as duncy as when they entered. Their focus is not on an education but on sex, drugs and fighting, while wanting material pocessions by any means necessary. Just check social media and see how poor their grammar is, and spelling, even though they’ve the latest smartphones.
I’ll repeat again…when you have a pattern of hiring your friends over the Qualified this is what you’ll get and this is what you deserve. Plus, a lack of training is a problem.
Its true
She is absolutely right but we have only ourselves to blame. We have as a region in the last few years begun to “Americanize” our education system to our detriment.
but will the move away from the Common Entrance just remove a proper yard stick ? While not being for the examination , the more important action of what you will add to the system needs to be planned carefully
@Jamel Layne, I agree partially with what you said. Why is the society surprised when we (the home environment) reward them for mediocre performances at school, we don’t instill enough morals and do not encourage boundaries. We are bringing up our children too much with a sense of entitlement. Some leaders want to take the competitive edge out of everything. What type of individual you are putting out there in the workforce and society? Also, the university needs to include job attachments/internship stints as part of the study programmes offered. Too many graduates leave with book knowledge and no experience. Both areas should be incorporated. Parents need to prioritize and focus on what’s really important in relation to rearing their children.
i think we just have to get back to the basic making sure we train our children from home how to do work at home not being in bed ,blocks or phones all day also work places give out more vocation jobs in the summer or xmas to school children so they would get to understand work life these things used to work in the 80s and 90s
Rubbish! Management is not work ready!
some parents have to change they mind set by telling children they do not want them doing certain jobs eg supermarkets or gas station i always say you can start these jobs as a start and continue to look and do more studies if needed it is not how we start it is how we finish
It’s needs to be look at properly and in detail.
Employers need to know their have a responsibility too it can be all taking and no investment.
Some times people are hired on who their know and not what their know and their dont have experienced…because it’s a friend or whoever their trained this is a practice for a long time.
You cannot cut out part of the pie and highlight it as a problem. There is a lot of issues that run deep in this society.
Even SOME (in in caps so read it) employers don’t hire people because their friend is the interviewee exboss and their take their opinion instead of dealing with the person applying for the job on a clean slate… I have seen this… And that what I seen was victimization for information pass on was faults.
Barbados need a overhaul all over
I don’t see this as surprising. Yeah the school system has failed them cause they are teacher who won’t teach and students who don’t want to learn. What else do you expect.
But that aside. These children are only interested in making a quick dollar. And making them selves social media clowns cause they know no better.
But then. What about the ones that really went to school learn and looking for their first job. Minus the dress code. How can they get a job when it calls for YEARS of experience? How does one GET experience of not given the opportunity to do so. It’s their FIRST JOB. And secondly. The ones that leaves tertiary level education with degrees to their names are now worthless cause then they’re called “overly qualitied.”
Nobody ain’t handing out chances to those who REALLY wants it. And the ones that don’t don’t see it as necessary. So there
Ppl in Barbados need to stop hiring their friends and hire persons qualified for the job…not everyone knows someone who knows someone to help them…and most that do, don’t really need the help but just don’t want to go through all the red tape…give these young ppl a chance …how can they have experience if no one will give them the opportunity to gain any… especially those who are career ready
How you mean we not ready how could we ever be when you all ain’t even given us a chance to prove what we are capable off everything now is calling for experiences 4/6 years and bare madness …stupses u miss me with this one and we young people out here including myself have lots of talent but noone ever takes the time to recognize us but there friends who knows other friends would come and get the job fair and easy
continue to tell our children to go to school and learn aim for the stars, work hard and achieve,let our children know they is nothing in life are free that they have to work hard to achieve things in life,teach them how to invest they time and money from small and teach them to be humble and respect themselves from small,and most of all put God first in they lives from small let them know they is nothing you can not achieve in life from a child we as parents have to teach them how to go to work and work with others
“Concerns were with the inadequate level of adaptability, the ability to collaborate, poor communication and conflict resolution, poor customer service, decision-making and time management skills and work ethics. Overall the soft skills of secondary school leavers were of high concern. It was also suggested that this type of personal and professional development gap can be of a significant barrier to employment,” she explained. We are creating the above by teaching people about personal development which usually means to be selfish, arrogant and lacking the soft skills. also the same can be said of our management for the past four decades.
It is going to get worse. Reason being Caregivers are not to discipline they are to negotiate with the children the children are to tell them what they want to do not Caregivers yelling them what is supposed to be done. Yes we all know there are those who abuse but we just cannot change to let all do what they want. Time and place for everything just as we are hearing not all learn at the same pace and we want a change with the Education System so too we should leave parenting to the individual households and step in on a case by case need not change laws completely ,those who are strong Willed , will always be on top and not so strong might get pulled into the downward stream
To be with the Jones
Did school leavers and young adults leaving tertiary learning institutions create the problem of 80% of government projects failing, poor appraisal systems, poor service from top to bottom, poor management of most businesses and government institutions and generally an arrogant, selfish and disorderly society? Where they in charge and put the poor systems in place? What examples did they have? why do we constantly blame others and never look at ourselves and our failings?
What do you mean young people not work ready you for real. If you can clean a house you can work is it because you at a desk and driving a big up car, tell me what you mean by not ready to work
Thank you Sammy Sam for your statement. Our leaders moved away from what was right and let MONEY be their god and now we have what we have. Even some churches made MONEY their god and taught rubbish to people. The below verse is for all our arrogant management that landed this country in record debt and the hands of the IMF….. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5 NIV
Who wrote this?…
If we take a look at the Apprenticeship system in Barbados, we will see that the aim of those in charge is to mass produce individuals off the ‘Polytechnic assembly line,’ without any prospect of being employed. Many students of the Vocational Training Board / Polytechnic are attached to industry for a period of 2 years . When that time is up , the students must move on and make way for other students to fill those 2-year training -attachment spots. The employers are under no obligation to retain any of these student as graded employees, no matter how good that they might performed during the period of attachment. Now with the old Apprenticeship system, companies were obligated to retain those apprentices which they had provided practical training to,into their work force. Today we have a lot of trained and qualified young people on the block .
The assembly line at the Polytech/ Vocational Training Board should be synchronised with the demands and expectations of industry,not just a matter of crunching numbers.
This statement by Mrs Greaves- Broome, tells me that those Human resources managers of businesses in Barbados knows nothings about the school systems in Barbados. We are considered educated by the number of written exams we pass.1) The poor basic education statement is not correct, show me any business that put out any vacancy advertisement in Barbados and does not get many over qualified persons wanting those jobs.2)The poor work ethics is laughable how many businesses in Barbados can produce any form of documentation, showing progress and developmental reports of employees. 3) Lack of work experience and Marketable skills, this tells me that businesses in Barbados have no inhouse training programs and with no kind of employee documented progress reports these business will always have square pegs in round holes.
CHRISTOPHER MACAULEY
im sure some young people are disappointed in employers and the pay and work conditions that are being offered….it goes both ways…
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The laws in Barbados demand that a trainee under the Vocational training scheme must be paid 75% of the wages of the lowest grade employee in that discipline. A tidy sum in some companies.
“Lack of work experience”, at 15 years old..what do you expect? It’s obvious.