The Ministry of Social Protection and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) workshop on Labour Market Information

 

Ministry of Social Protection, October 19, 2016

Remarks for the LMIS Coordinating Committee – by Ms. Lydia Greene, Chief Labour, Occupational Safety and Health Officer (a.g).

Greetings,

Ladies and Gentlemen, the pleasure is mine this morning to bring you remarks on behalf of the Ministry of Social Protection, an integral partner of this project. Please allow me to offer the apology of the Hon. Minister, Volda Lawrence, who is on travel duty and cannot be here with us today. She sends her regards and wishes you well during this training session.

Lydia Greene-Chief Labour OSH Officer

Lydia Greene-Chief Labour OSH Officer

I would like to welcome on board, all the agencies and Ministries present here today, because your training has far reaching implications, as it seeks to move us a step further in ensuring we achieve this critical aspiration of the free movement of skills within the Region.

You are being trained today to operate a system that will provide us statistics to enhance the mobility of skills in a common space.  Our world resolves around statistics and specifically, in the context of the free movement of people, a Labour Market Information System is critical, as it aids informed decision making, critical to solving many problems we face. Let us not lose sight of the fact that you, the statisticians and technical personnel here, can offer essential insight into determining which data and conclusions are reliable, you can map our trends and guide our progress. I therefore urge you to maximize on this training opportunity so that we could have a reliable Labour Market Information System.

This is not just critical to the needs of Guyana, but to the functionality of Guyana as a CARICOM partner that embraces the free movement of skills and to enhance our relations with sister countries that have signed onto this important treaty to promote free movement.

Dr. Olivia Smith-Deputy Program Manager CSME

Dr. Olivia Smith-Deputy Program Manager CSME

I am happy to note the wide range of participation. I am confident of your ability to meet the high expectations. Earlier this year, Minister Lawrence called on CARICOM member states to ensure that there are no discriminatory acts meted to persons seeking to take advantage of the privileges within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy .

She urged that each member state must commit to and ensure that workers are respected; there must be fair treatment of workers without regard to nationality, socio-background or race. These principles are crucial to any effort at enhancing the competitiveness and productivity of our regional workforce. Creating an effective Labour Market Information System would allow us to support such an ideal. A Labour Market Information System would provide us critical data to measure the progress we are making with regard to implementing the CSME, identify our strengths and weaknesses; aid job seekers and employers; and facilitate information sharing to concerned parties.

I therefore wish you well over the next two days and assure you that your role is no ordinary one, but rather one that will empower us with the means to have even more effective movement of skills within CARICOM.

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