With small population and rapid oil development…Guyana may be facing local content crisis of massive proportions

Oct 04, 2021 News

By Kiana Wilburg

Kaieteur News – For the past few months, I have been eager to share perspectives on Guyana’s oil sector, specifically on issues related to local content. There are two key matters that have to be addressed: the need for greater transparency from all oil companies on their local content performance and ways in which the government can close loopholes that would allow corrupt actors to abuse locals and use them as mere window dressing for their local content reports.
But before we get to those matters, a more troubling one is before us. With just a population of about 700,000 people, how are we going to service the needs of an oil sector that is poised to see 10 oil ships working offshore in this decade? Already, Guyana is incapable of meeting 100 percent of the needs for the Liza Phase One Project. And ExxonMobil’s in country head, Mr. Alistair Routledge has said all services needed would be had within these shores by 2022.
It sounds all well and good but the bigger question is whether we have the capabilities in country to handle the explosion of work that is underway. Underscoring my concerns is a report that was published recently by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM).
That report states, “If Guyana were to harness all of its unemployed, underemployed and discouraged workers, the potential supply of labour would be only 63,500 the medium-term. It is estimated that Guyana will need approximately 160,000 workers. It can be concluded that there will be the need for, at minimum, 100,000 workers in Guyana to realise its full growth potential.”
With this in mind, the IOM said it is crucial that Guyana understands that it needs to tap into its Diaspora potential and urgently produce a structured migration policy, informed by evidence-based analysis.
The document noted, “Guyana has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in the US, UK and Canada, this pool of Guyanese workers is said to number about 550,000 many of whom are considered highly skilled. It is therefore recommended that structured engagement with the diaspora ensues so this skill set can be utilised to contribute to its maximum potential.”
Simultaneously, the IOM stated that the government must ensure the Guyanese workforce benefits from significant training for those without skills, retraining for those whose skills may be mismatched with the demand in the economy, and upgrading of skills for those who may have skills but are unable to operate in an intensified competitive environment.
Equally crucial, the organisation said, is for there to be an understanding of the type of labour, which is needed as the country moves deeper into the oil and gas era.
Towards this end, the IOM said there is need for the establishment of labour market information systems (LMIS) which can be handled by a labour market information centre (LMIC). It was explained that an LMIC can be a bureau of Government which does research, analysis and forecasts. This agency would have the principal responsibility of analysing the labour market, forecasting trends, understanding labour market gaps, collaborating with agencies such as the Bureau of Statistics, evolving the Central Recruitment & Manpower agency and advising government on policy.
Overall, the IOM said the government has taken several steps in the right direction; however, reforms, innovation and modernisation will be needed to ensure that Guyana can handle an explosion of growth in migrant workers coming into the country.
What is clear from the report is that Guyana not only needs to modernise the institutional and legislative framework associated with migration as a matter of priority but urgently conduct a labour gap analysis and have its local content policy and targets informed by same. In the absence of the foregoing, Guyana faces a local content crisis of massive proportions. As was rightly pointed out, even if we gathered all our human resources together, we would still fall short of meeting the labour needs of the oil sector. The foregoing also raises questions about the kind of local targets we would ask for, and overall, how we intend to define what constitutes a local company given our labour deficiencies. Guyana is no doubt, racing against the clock to fix this predicament.

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With small population and rapid oil development…Guyana may be facing local content crisis of massive proportions

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