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‘Guyana’s oil sector moving too fast for small labour force’ – ILO study
– can slow down growth of economy
Kaieteur News – The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its December 2022 study emphasised that Guyana’s oil and gas industry is moving too fast for the country’s limited skilled workforce.
The ILO findings were highlighted in its report titled, ‘Prospective occupational skills needs in the Guyanese oil and gas industry, 2022-2026’ which was published back on December 19, 2022.
Kaieteur News had reported that while Guyana’s oil resources have placed it among the top petroleum producers in the world, the country’s lack of technical expertise and workforce capacity continue to be a bugbear.
ILO Report
Despite this, the Government of Guyana (GoG) earlier this year gave American oil giant, ExxonMobil, the green light for the fourth project (US$10B Yellowtail Development Project) and Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, has been pushing for oil companies to go faster.
While the Government is persistent in accelerating the industry – the ILO reports states that such a move can end badly for Guyana.
“The accelerated expansion of the oil and gas operations (in Guyana) has exposed a pronounced gap between the industry’s labour demand and the availability of skilled workers at the local level,” ILO said.
To this end it was stated that if the gap is not addressed, the latter will likely slow down the growth of the sector and of the whole economy or, at the very least, generate inefficiencies in the level performance and for the economy.
The ILO stated too that the report is meant to support the Government of Guyana, local stakeholders, employers, workers’ representatives, TVET institutions and academia to assess and, to the extent possible, anticipate the labour demand and skills needs. The report also provides an overview of how those needs are or could be addressed through the present educational infrastructure.
Upon surveying Guyana’s private sector, the ILO reported that engineers, specialists in occupational health and safety, and ship deck crews lead the list of “most in demand” jobs in the oil and gas industry over the next five years.
Oil & Gas Worker
However, it was stated that as pointed out by the private sector respondents, that the aforementioned jobs are perceived as not sufficiently available in the country. Added to this, it was highlighted that there is a need to upgrade Guyanese workers technical skills in areas such as rigging, welding, capacity to ensure compliance with health and safety standards, and knowledge of nautical systems.
Also stated in the ILO report is that over 80 percent of the total working age of Guyana’s population did not go beyond upper secondary education and that the required workforce that will be needed in the coming years, is six times Guyana’s current workforce capacity.
Kaieteur News had reported that, according to the report, ‘Availability of qualified human resources’ is a key bugbear to the country’s development. It was explained that the Guyanese economy would have to overcome the aforementioned in order to fully benefit from the oil boom.
“Although oil and gas operations employ a wide range of jobs, including those occupations associated with low(er) skills level 6, an important proportion of the job openings require at least a higher technical or vocational degree,” it was stated in the report.
In contrast, it was stated that the gross school enrollment ratio at tertiary level for Guyana is only about 12 percent, which is much lower than the average 44 percent in other Latin America and the Caribbean countries.
Another hampering factor is the ‘Quantitatively limited workforce.’ According to the report, although the quality of available human capital is certainly worrisome, it is not the only constraint in Guyana. “Quantitatively, Guyana’s labour force is not big enough to serve the expected growth of the economy,” it was stated.
According to the ILO, the labour demand driven by the oil and gas sector and its support services in Guyana for the forthcoming years is estimated to be 260,000 workers, while Guyana’s national potential labour force is estimated to be a mere 39,342. Importantly, even under a hypothetical scenario where all unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged workers are trained, retrained, and up-skilled, to become employed the demand will still outstrip supply in the medium-term.
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