Thirteen of the 25 young people who were awarded for being a part of Cohort 5 of the first job initiative, Job Start Plus. (Photo by Vonardo Corbin)
By Vonardo Corbin on Wednesday, 4 May, 2022 at 09:48 PM
The Ministry of Labour says it is concerned about the levels of unemployment among youth in Barbados and is appealing to local businesses to assist in providing job opportunities through their first job initiative.
These comments came as the ministry held a relaunch ceremony for the initiative entitled Job Start Plus at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday.
Manager of the Barbados Human Resource Development Programme, Ericka Watson, said that unemployment can pose several challenges for youth, and noted that the initiative was aimed at reducing the chances of young people having such experiences.
“Youth unemployment is relatively high. On average our youth unemployment rate is about 30%, and these are young people who are actively looking for work but can’t find work,” Ms. Watson said.
She further explained, “it is a problem because it leads to a number of issues and it is all connected to poverty, connected to issues with long term employability, because the longer you are unemployed, the harder it is to find work, and then when you do find work the quality of work is less.”
She noted that Job Start Plus was started to give young people between the ages of 16-24 the opportunity to gain work experience.
“Most of the time, employers, the feedback is that they are young persons, they are not ready for the workplace, they are concerned about attitude, just having work experience, so that is what the programme is about,” she added.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour, Social Security, and the Third Sector, Colin Jordan appealed to businesses to assist in giving these young people their first job experiences.
“Job Start Plus has allowed some young people to get their feet into the door but their performance is really what their future will hinge on,” he advised.
He said that the ministry is looking to conduct more world of work training and career planning to continue building the country’s young people.
He explained, “We will also be looking to address issues relating to literacy and numeracy among some of our young persons and we will be facilitating those core skills that not only better equip them for placement but position them for future employment and career development.”