Director of Labour, Howard Thompson recently spoke with ZNS News about the rise in employers seeking labour certificates to hire foreign workers.

He said, “unemployment is down significantly, it’s the lowest its been in over a decade so that’s not a troubling phenomenon to me that there is a rise in applications for foreign labourers. But, I must say, that the Department goes to great lengths to ensure that Bahamians get first opportunity. And if we cannot find a Bahamian available or suitable Bahamian we ensure that there is an understudy put in place so that Bahamians can get that training and hopefully at the end of that process the Bahamian should be up and ready to take on that task and we would not need to renew that labour certificate moving forward.”

Thompson encouraged Bahamians to register their skills with the Department of Labour’s Skills Bank. “It’s very effective. For example, when the application come into the Department of Labour the first port of call is to check our skills bank to see if there are any suitable Bahamians. What my team then do they forward on those applications to the employer for them to consider. Nine times out of ten the hire the Bahamian. They did not know that there was a Bahamian available for the job or even suitable. So nine time out of ten that Bahamian gets the job,” he said.

Speaking specifically about labour opportunities in Grand Bahama Thompson said there are opportunities for people with blue collar skills. He encouraged people who fall in the category to pursue certifications in their various skills sets as there is a high demand on the island for welders, carpenters and electricians.