DEPORTEES continue to face the uphill battle of finding jobs in a country where work is scarce for even university qualified graduates. Social worker Carol Cooke says the issue is one of trust, not training.

“Most of the time, as a deportee, it is not clear that we can trust you enough and that is a barrier for employment, so they are not getting jobs in their area of training,” said Cooke, who works with the Ministry of Health.

The social worker says that several deportees have received training in different fields while they were incarcerated abroad.

Jamaica Employers Federation president Audrey Hinchcliffe said there are employers who will hire deportees, but added, she could not speak for all her members.

“If someone comes and applies for a job, you don’t know if they are a deportee or not,” said Hinchcliffe

“I am sure I have deportees in my company but how do I know who are deportees or not a deportee,” said the JEF president and head of Manpower and Maintenance Services Limited (MMS).

At MMS, said Hinchcliffe, all potential employees are required to say whether they had been in trouble with the law, but added that a ‘yes’ did not necessarily disqualify them from the job.

“If you find out that a person has a criminal record, then you might want to investigate it. But if the person has served their time and has already been punished, then who is the employer to punish the person again,” she said.