February 24, 2023
On the heels of an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report outlining its billions of dollars in financial support of the Dominican Republic’s efforts to recover jobs after the COVID-19 pandemic, the top executive of a regional talent acquisition service is hopeful to see positive job growth in the country in the near future.
Caribbean Employment Services Inc. is a market-leading digital talent acquisition service that aims to connect the top talent from the Caribbean with hiring managers, HR professionals and decision-makers in companies both within the Caribbean as well as abroad. Further, it aims to provide the region’s jobseekers and those who are already employed with news and resources related to Caribbean labour.
The organization’s CEO, Joseph Boll, said, “We’re hopeful to see a lot more job recovery and job growth in the coming weeks and months as the IDB’s programmes come to bear fruit.”
Boll noted that in the Dominican Republic, as in many neighbouring Caribbean countries, high levels of informal employment have posed a problem, especially as the country and region continue to recover from the economic impact of the pandemic. A high rate of informal employment is a serious concern as it leaves workers more vulnerable to external shocks like global pandemics or natural disasters. As such, the CEO said he’s hopeful that the country, and indeed many Caribbean countries facing similar challenges, will be better equipped to address the matter with the IDB’s support.
The IDB, in its report, particularly mentioned the challenge of informal employment. It noted that it has provided US$38 million in financial support to the Dominican Republic to support and strengthen the nation’s flexible employment system, RD Trabaja, which seeks to resolve informal employment especially. This is in addition to its support of programmes that aim to empower entrepreneurs, thereby improving self-employment prospects.
“MSMEs in the Caribbean have been shown to provide a large share of jobs,” Boll noted. “So, whether it’s supporting direct job recovery or increasing the capacity of small businesses, the IDB’s support is welcome and we look forward to helping businesses in the Dominican Republic hire the best talent as their operations recover.”