January 6, 2023
With the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) suggesting Caribbean nations look to expand pharmaceutical industries as they seek to recover from the pandemic, Caribbean Employment Services Inc. CEO Joseph Boll remarked that regional economies are in a unique position when it comes to employment at the moment. He added that while this makes the future uncertain, it also indicates a wealth of potential if opportunities for development are taken advantage of.
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 economies of Caribbean nations are in a unique position right now,” said Boll. “On the one hand, they are recovering from severe hits to tourism because of the pandemic; but on the other hand, many have begun successfully diversifying. We will see the outcome of that in the months and years ahead, and find out how sustainable those efforts were, but in the meantime, initial insight coming in is indicating these could be tremendous areas for growth.”
Many countries in the Caribbean have spent the last two years focusing on how to restore their economies as well as recover jobs and make them more resilient after the pandemic. However, in a recently released report, the ECLAC zoned in on two industries in particular that are loaded with the potential to stimulate regional economies and create job opportunities if developed properly: the oil industry, which has experienced a major boom in Guyana straight through the pandemic; and the pharmaceutical industry, which remains relatively undeveloped in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The ECLAC found that the pharmaceutical industry accounts for just 0.4 percent of total GDP and an even lower 0.2 percent of jobs. However, despite these figures, it still highlighted the industry as a sector the region should seek to develop and expand. In particular, coming off of a pandemic that was as devastating for healthcare as it was for the economy of many Caribbean countries, the ECLAC said a pharmaceutical industry in the region could have the multifold benefit of having a positive impact on public health, creating jobs and attracting investment. As such, economic diversification into this industry could prove especially promising, the organization asserted.
Guyana, hailed by Caribbean Employment Services Inc. as a regional leader in ensuring citizens are gainfully employed, may already be on its way to developing this industry as just this year it launched a pharmacy assistant training programme for some 27 residents of Region Two. Indeed, if diversification into this industry does successfully launch in the Caribbean, it would not be surprising if Guyana becomes the homeplace of the pharmaceutical sector given its headstart and ambition for ensuring citizens are employed.