June 2, 2023
Caribbean Employment Services Inc., a market-leading digital talent acquisition service that aims to connect the top talent from the Caribbean with employers both within the region and abroad, is hopeful that recent recommendations made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the labour market in Grenada will be taken up within the public and private sector.
Caribbean Employment Services Inc. CEO Joseph Boll said, “We’ve reviewed the IMF statement on its mission to Grenada and their suggestions present clear ways to create more formal, sustainable jobs in the country. Now it’s just a matter of whether local employers in both the public sector and the private sector will actually implement those suggestions in fruitful ways for the labour market.”
Boll was referring to the Grenada Staff Concluding Statement of the 2023 Article IV Mission, which was recently published with a comprehensive list of recommendations. Among its suggestions, the IMF suggested addressing gender equality in the workforce; enhancing digitalization; increasing technical and entrepreneurial training; introducing pathways for academic success to transition directly into employment; undertaking a review of job functionality and wages in the public sector; improving the pension scheme for public workers; boosting agriculture and fisheries; and integrating agriculture with tourism.
“As we know, Grenada is already taking a look at increasing wages for some categories of workers, so some of these recommendations may already be underway,” said the CEO. “For other recommendations, these initiatives could certainly help improve labour conditions for existing workers and create the conditions for economic growth that would help to create more jobs.
“It’s also interesting that the IMF specifically mentioned addressing gender gaps in the workforce when the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) also released a report not too long ago strongly encouraging Caribbean and Latin American jobs make more of an effort to include women in their workforce and seriously consider them for higher-paid positions. The gender gap issue is a complex one, but to see now both the IMF and IDB bringing it up recently is interesting.”
In any case, Boll noted, while Grenada’s economy is already recovering well from the pandemic, the future for Grenada’s labour market is certainly bright if these recommendations take tangible hold going forward. He added that Caribbean Employment Services Inc. is a strong and reliable resource for businesses that may be ready to expand and looking for assistance with finding the best talent.