Buchanan
Donna Ortega, News Editor
BY YEAR'S end the Ministry of Labour and Social Security expects to have an electronic labour exchange in operation. A pilot project focusing on setting up a computerised resource centre is also to be ready in a few months time with other links coming on stream afterwards.
The ministry is now working on converting space at the North Street office into the resource centre.
Among the aims are the establishment of a labour market information system (LMIS) and labour exchange primarily to match unemployed persons with appropriate jobs. The LMIS will provide relevant data on jobs as well as all other types of labour market data to give investors, for example, valuable information with regard to training timelines, trained personnel and other resources.
The ministry's offices islandwide will be connected by a computer network, moving from manual to electronic registration of job seekers, according to their skills. Employers will be able to search computer files at the centre or use the Internet to identify prospective employees.
National project
Jamaica's national project (also now being set up in Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and the Bahamas) is a first step in the process towards fulfilment of an initiative of Labour Ministries in CARICOM and the United States Department of Labour for the establishment of a Caribbean Labour Market Information System (CLMIS).
According to Permanent Secretary, Anthony Irons, the ministry was widening its reach to include all professionals in the system though previously it had focused largely on blue-collar workers. He said that Labour Minister Donald Buchanan and the entire ministry are fully committed to the project which is expected to be ready for operation by year-end.
Gresford Smith, the ministry's divisional director of industrial relations and allied services, is chairman of the Tripartite Labour Market Information and Labour Exchange Advisory Commission which is overseeing the process. Social partners and other stakeholders directly involved in labour market information are part of the commission and include the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the island's three universities, HEART/NTA, Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), the Ministries of Industry, Commerce, and Technology (ICT), and Education.
Mr. Smith said they would be launching an extensive marketing programme once all the infrastructure is in place.
Maya Beja, international project manager at the Office of Foreign Affairs, USDL Bureau of Inter-national Labour Affairs, headed a four-member team which led training exercises at the Labour Ministry last week.
One of the major objectives, she said is to have the ministry provide the tools for workers to find jobs for themselves as it is a self-directed service. Her team is also assisting the ministry to develop a business plan as it created a one-stop centre providing market analysis and other services.
Market information
She said that the Web-based system being developed would provide labour market information for employer and worker in the hope that this would "help shorten the duration of unemployment".
There is opportunity provided by the system also for supporting the administration of the ministry's migrant labour programme while repatriation of Jamaican workers could be driven by utilising the Internet.
She stressed that inter-agency co-operation is important to the realisation of the goals of the LMIS. "We are looking for a very active tripartite committee Government, employers, labour sharing experience and thoughts with the ministry to help meet customer needs," she said.
With regard to the capacity of the system for identifying weaknesses and targeting low-skilled workers for retraining, team member, U.S. employment and training consultant, Joe Weisenburger, added: "We are hoping to create partnerships with other agencies, to work with low-skill workers, to leverage resources and provide core services that will help them become more marketable."
Mr. Smith said that the ministry's projection and enhancement of the programme for the future would assist job seekers to acquire skills for job interviews, resume-writing and accessing the system.
The programme would have job solicitors interacting with employers as well as persons to interview job seekers and students to guide them on where the opportunities were, as the LMIS would help to identify employment trends, he said.
"The system is in its embryonic stage, but it is evolving," he stressed last week. However, he said he looked forward to the time when job seekers would be able to access a job from their desk or home, getting a full description of the job and the pre-requisites required in certain careers. "Hopefully one day we will have kiosks where people can access it in libraries and the post offices," he said.
Last week, the team of USDL trainers met with groups including the Jamaica Manufacturers Association, the Jamaica Employers Federation, the Joint Trade Union Research Devel-opment Council and the University and Allied Workers Union for an assessment of how the project is doing. "Without the private sector fully participating, the project won't succeed," Ms. Beja stressed.
"Through partnership we are hoping to leverage costs and resources," she said as she hedged questions about the cost of the project.
However, she disclosed that start-up resources allocated by the USDL to 13 countries in the Caribbean in fiscal year 2000 was US$1.5 million. A further allocation of US$1.5 million was made in fiscal year 2001.
In addition to training, USDL is providing computer hardware and software in Jamaica. The Labour Ministry is using its own staff, paying salaries and other costs from its existing budget, Mr. Irons said.
