A proliferation of unskilled labour

Oct 11, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Some weeks ago, the IMF was reported to have observed the shortage of skilled labour in the Guyana market – in fact a chronic deficiency across our Public Service for the past three decades or more.
Indeed the percentage of unskilled labour keeps increasing in what is alleged to be a growing (public) economy.
Reference to the National Estimates will reveal the following samples from the identified categories of employees consistently shown throughout Ministries, not to mention Regional Administrations:
-Administrative
-Senior Technical
-Other Technical and Craft Skilled
-Clerical and Office Support
-Semi-skilled Operatives and Unskilled
-Contracted Employees*

*The last is an indulgence initiated by the previous administration and, as seen in Tables below, has been faithfully maintained since.
This particular category is highlighted since the recruitment process by-passes the Public Service Commission; and there appears to be no statutory stipulation about the levels of skilled/unskilled individuals who fill unadvertised vacancies.
The following sample reflects the prevalence of Contracted Employees as against total employees, even though there is evidence of some reduction (–) in actual numbers.
Table 1
Contracted Employees

Ministry 2018 Total 2019 Total
Presidency 450 332 479 910
Finance 109 235 108 257(-)
Foreign Affairs 58 355 57 381(-)
Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs 46 102 55 127
Agriculture 185 343 155 345(-)
Natural Resources 70 84 72 93
Public Infrastructure 225 352 232 398
Education 262 2981 133 2884(-)
Public Health 1073 3041 791 3262(-)
Social Protection 222 621 201 707(-)
Public Security 160 6864 173 7658(-)

Next, it is not unreasonable for the category of “Clerical and Office Support” to be included amongst the non-skilled. The following Table displays the extent of their presence in a sample of the aforementioned Ministries.
Since in each case the total population is constant, these numbers are not repeated.
Table 2
Clerical and Office Support
Ministry 2018 2019
Presidency 165 192
Finance 62 80
Foreign Affairs 69 75
Agriculture 32 35
Public Infrastructure 30 40
Education 241 240
Public Health 122 155
Social Protection 84 102
Public Security 4610 5908

There is no question that we should be concerned about the staple of Semi-Skilled Operatives and Unskilled. There does not appear even to have been a conversation between the employers and the Board of Industrial Training, to explore with the respective Technical Institutes how productivity across-the-board could be improved through upgrading of skills.
Instead, what has obtained in recent months is a series of disparate specialist developmental events about which any measured impact assessment is scarcely announced.
The following Table should speak for itself:
Table 3
Semi-skilled Operatives and Unskilled
Ministry 2018 2019
Presidency 50 99
Foreign Affairs 64 80
Agriculture 28 37
Public Infrastructure 41 61
Education 188 183
Public Health 581 688
Social Protection 146 170
Public Security 578 592

But it is across the Regional Administrations that the skills deficiency is quite troubling.
The first issue of course has long been about the selection and appointment of the Regional Executive Officer – a position never shown in the Estimates, based on the specious argument that the post is one for political appointment; as if a Permanent Secretary (a post registered throughout the Estimates) is not also an obvious political appointment.
But the latter has a more immediate reporting relationship that his/her Regional counterpart whose authority/portfolio (with one or two exceptions) includes:
– Administration and Finance
– Agriculture
– Public Infrastructure
– Education Delivery
– Health Service
Even Parliamentarians do not appear interested in enquiring of the skills and competencies required to fill these unannounced vacancies, overloading the responsibility these appointees who have to lead and direct the range of non-skilled categories listed in Table 4 following.

Table 4
Non-Skilled Categories

Regions Clerical & Office Support Semi-Skilled Operatives & Unskilled Contracted Employees
2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019
1 18 25 332 425 37 34
2 66 69 265 264 84 69
3 65 84 421 383 80 75
4 47 68 192 198 71 66
5 49 60 173 187 48 42
6 83 92 363 411 112 91
7 24 24 161 140 51 81
8 9 9 110 113 30 27
9 29 28 183 195 37 45
10 56 54 170 158 48 47

The general question to be asked, and answered, not later than 2020, by the aforementioned Technical Institutes, is who and what competency is to be applied to conduct the upgrading in the first instance. Is the same methodology to be utilised throughout the Administration, and by which coordinating authority?
So far as the Regional Administrations are concerned, despite the minimal reduction in the number of ‘Contracted Employees’, it is still not unreasonable to enquire about the decision-making process which officially discriminates between ‘public service’ and ‘contracted’ employees.
Any resolution of the ‘labour’ problem would require more than limited technical competence. There needs to be a substantive appreciation of the dilemma long before observed by others than the IMF, and a comprehensive conceptualisation by thoughtful actors towards the urgent development of a strategy for implementation, albeit in a phased manner.
Surely, there must be a commitment to the development of thousands of under-skilled who are glibly described as ‘human resources’.

E.B. John2

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