Employers prefer graduates with managerial and supervisory skills
Published:Saturday | August 21, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Lutonm, Senior Staff Reporter
IF YOU have not yet made a decision on the courses you intend to pursue this school year, it is probably not a bad idea to think about labour-market demands before making a choice.
A new study published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security says employers prefer tertiary-level graduates with managerial and supervisory skills.
The survey reveals there is increased demand among employers for persons with levels two and three certification at the vocational level.
Employers also say they would rather employ secondary-school leavers with accounting and information-technology backgrounds.
The study claims that 69 per cent of organisations report a shortage of special skills across sectors.
But Pearnel Charles, the minister of labour, says a shortage of skills does not necessarily translate to vacancy.
"In every area that we have discovered a shortage of skilled workers, we have found workers that need to be upgraded and to be certified. We also have skilled workers in particular fields that can be reskilled," Charles said, while pointing out that more than 40,000 Jamaicans lost jobs during the recession.
Educators needed
The labour study has pointed to the need for educators such as science, mathematics, Spanish and special-education teachers.
Speech therapists and early childhood teachers are also said to be in high demand.
The latest data published in the Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica indicate that the number of educators trained in the country has decreased from 5,984 in 2006 to 4,137 in 2008.
The labour ministry has listed agriculturists among the occupations for which there is a great demand.
Despite the massive push by the Government to grow the economy by encouraging greater agricultural production, only 31 trained persons graduated from universities in 2008, the lowest since 2005 when 94 graduated.
Computer technology and programming, areas listed as being ripe for employment, have seen a decrease in tertiary graduates, from 949 in 2005, to 614 in 2008.
Charles has said it is time that labour demands are taken into consideration when education policies are being set.
"The Ministry of Education, in its curriculum planning, has to look again at the curriculum so we start to train people where there are high-skill demands," Charles told The Gleaner.
A few of the skills needed in today's workforce
Medical doctors
Pharmacy technicians
Surgical technologists
Registered nurses
Practical nurses
Computer technicians
Call-centre workers
Housekeepers
Waiters
Waitresses
Welders
Electricians
Mechanics
Plumbers
Air-conditioning technicians
Mechanical engineers
Auto mechanics
Motor-vehicle repairmen
Industrial security guards (great demand)
Agricultural workers
Office clerks
Secretaries
Accounting
Information technology
Data operators
Web designer
Upholsterers
Drapery makers
Fashion designers
Financial service workers
Accounts and payroll clerks
Engineers
Multimedia personnel
Teachers: Science, mathematics, special education, Spanish, early childhood
Speech therapists
Psychologists
Audiologists
Radiologists
Biomedical engineers
Bakers
Plumbers