Kristen Gyles | Jobseekers too picky, choosey and refuse-y?

Why is there such a stark dichotomy between what some MSME operators are seeing within the job market and what unemployed graduates are seeing? One set sees an economy in which almost everyone is happily employed, and employers have barely anyone they can hire (such that there is an overwhelming need for the importation of skilled labour) and another set sees very few opportunities for meaningful employment that they can access. Can you guess who is who?

Jamaican youths, especially, do not lack awareness of available employment opportunities. They are well aware of the many job fairs, recruitment drives and skills-training opportunities out there. However, there is a widespread rejection, on their part, of jobs they perceive as being below the expected standard. We live in an era where a university graduate would rather stay home and figure out how to start a business than join a company that offers only a few bucks in exchange for the coveted prize of apprenticeship or ‘professional exposure’.

University students and graduates awaiting employment fight tooth and nail every year to get to travel to the United States on popular ‘work and travel’ programmes, so they can work. Once they touch down on foreign soil, they often pick up jobs in restaurants and hotels doing the very same tasks restaurateurs and hoteliers in Jamaica have been saying they can hardly find anyone to do. Isn’t that curious?

To put things in perspective, more than 7,500 Jamaican university students travel overseas on the J-1 Visa Summer Work Travel programme every year, on average, forming the largest group of students who participate in the programme. This seems to rubbish the growing criticism that young people don’t want to work. To go further, many of these students come back reporting that they managed to juggle two or three jobs while overseas, often leaving them with less than five hours each day for sleep, travel and leisure.

ANSWER IS OBVIOUS

Why are they willing to do all that overseas and not in Jamaica? The answer is obvious. What can be made working in a Jamaican restaurant or hotel is nothing compared to what can be made working overseas in similar jobs.

The PIOJ has reported that the economy grew by an estimated 1.9 per cent during the quarter ended September 2023, relative to the corresponding quarter last year, with the reported growth being attributed to higher levels of employment, among other contributors. As has been discussed at length by now, low-unemployment levels are always something to celebrate, but do not speak to the quality of jobs accessible to jobseekers. While many sectors have undergone rapid growth in recent years, these are, in many cases, the sectors that pay the least.

In any case, now that there has been an uptick in employment, the tourism, manufacturing and BPO sectors, primarily, are reporting that they can hardly find job-ready prospects with the right skills, attitude and work ethic needed to work in their establishments, and that there is a looming labour crisis.

“Pick, choose and refuse”

Noting the high levels of employment as a sign of national progress, one social commentator opined, early last year when the country had recorded its then lowest ever unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent, that young people nowadays can “pick, choose and refuse” jobs. The problem seems to be, for some employers, exactly that a young jobseeker could dare to have options. But if employers can refuse job candidates, why can’t candidates also weigh their options and refuse jobs?

Frankly, when I look around, I don’t see the dearth of skill and talent. Skills and talent abound. We see it in the number of novel, problem-solving innovations churned out yearly, especially at the tertiary level, and we see it in the number of intricate fraud schemes and other illegitimate money-making activities out there. But, a notable challenge persists in our ability to fully harness our human capital as a country. That challenge boils down to wages and compensation.

Skilled workers exist. Many are just choosing not to work for what is being offered by many Jamaican employers.

This is not to deny that a significant proportion of Jamaicans do not meet the required levels of literacy and numeracy that would equip them to work in certain professional spheres. However, when there are educated or trained people sitting around without gainful employment, the complaint cannot be that there is a shortage of employable talent.

So what do we do now, in light of the stalemate created between employers who want workers at low costs and employees who want jobs with high wages? A paradigm shift is required to view employment as more than a mere transaction of services for minimal wages.

Not long ago, the government declared the elimination of fees up to the associate-degree level for students at the HEART/NSTA Trust. There hasn’t been much excitement surrounding that. Why? Unfortunately, negative stigma clouds employment in certain sectors and if there is an expectation that some career paths will only lead to low wages, the average student gearing up for entry into the job market will steer clear of those paths, even if entry into those careers is free.

On another note, I’m particularly interested to see what the wages offered to the foreign labourers will look like. At a glance, it seems it is too expensive for disgruntled employers to attract Jamaican talent and as a result they want foreigners who will accept less for the same jobs. But, only time will tell.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com