“One of the outcomes I would like to see is that we arrive at a mechanism for capturing more labour-related data in terms of movement of people and intra-regional labour migration – to better understand the labour market in the Caribbean.”
Sen. the Hon. Claudette Joseph, Attorney General and Minister for Legal Affairs, Labour and Consumer Affairs, Grenada and Chair, COHSOD Labour
CARICOM ministers responsible for labour are advocating for a mechanism to capture more data for decision-making within the sector. Sen. the Hon. Claudette Joseph, Attorney General and Minister for Legal Affairs, Labour and Consumer Affairs, Grenada believes that this is crucial to understanding the labour market and the impact of the movement of people within the Community.
She shared these sentiments as Chair of the Thirty-fourth Special Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) Labour held on 8 April in Georgetown, Guyana.
“I think one of the outcomes I would like to see is that we arrive at a mechanism for capturing more labour-related data in terms of movement of people and intra-regional labour migration – so that we understand the labour market in the Caribbean better.”
She added, “I know that CARICOM is assisting with developing a Regional LMIS [Labour Market Information System]. I look forward to taking advantage of the data that will come out of that as we refine the labour market and serve our people better.”
The Chair shares more of her expectations of the LMIS below.
Free movement and the Labour Market Assessment
CARICOM Secretariat’s Director for CARICOM Single Market, Leo Preville, shared that the CARICOM Secretariat, in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), is undertaking a labour market assessment, which is expected to inform the development of a CARICOM regional migration policy – which was mandated by CARICOM Heads of Government in February 2019.
The Director underscored that assessing the Region’s labour market is necessary to develop a comprehensive migration policy.
He illustrated what the assessment would achieve:
“The labour market assessment being done now, with support from the ILO,is meant to feed into the labour migration policy component of our overall regional migration policy, so that is a critical piece of work. It will give us a sense in the Community, at the Member State level, of the structure, characteristics and nature of our labour market. What are the flows, what are the trends, what is the level of employment, unemployment and the various sub-sectors of employment, labour participation rates, etc.
“This work provides data from which we can begin to craft proper policies for addressing the labour market in the Region. Labour is the core of what our CSME is all about,” asserted the Director.
He provides additional insight on the labour market assessment below.
Editor’s notes:
In February 2019, the Heads of CARICOM Governments called for the development of a regional migration policy in coordination with relevant United Nations Agencies.
To fulfill this mandate, the CARICOM Secretariat, in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), is undertaking a labour market assessment, which is expected to inform the development of a CARICOM regional labour migration policy.
The scope of the study encompasses the 15 Member States of CARICOM covered by the Regional Migration Policy Framework. The study is expected to analyse and present the data within the context of a single economic space, represented by CARICOM, with an integrated regional labour market.
The overall objective is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the economic, employment, labour and migration dynamics in the CARICOM Member States and to explore further the effects of climate change on jobs and labour mobility, consider casual chains, identify opportunities and challenges, and recommend possible strategies for improving productive employment in the Region.
The study is expected to critically analyse the demand and supply side of the labour market as well as intermediaries, institutional and policy frameworks governing labour, labour mobility and employment in the Region.
