IN a global recession, there are hardly any safe havens for jobs; anyone is liable to be laid off and any position can be made redundant.

Fortunately, there are a few sectors that are more adaptable than others, providing better employment security options for those with the wherewithal to go after and secure them.

Among them are agriculture, education, energy/environment and ICT, Career & Education inquiries have revealed.

Some sector leaders this week provide insight into some of the options available to people.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is traditionally seen as ‘dirty’ work and the labour required deemed only for the uneducated. This is, however, far removed from present-day realities, even as the sector is deemed one of the most adaptable in tough economic times.

Agriculture Minister Chris Tufton sheds light on the state of the sector and notes why people, amidst declining alternatives, should take a second look at the agriculture.

Is agriculture recession-proof?

People have to eat, for one. People may have allergies and such but the demand for basic items remains elastic. If you are a provider of those foods, you will have a consistent demand. If your foods are considered luxury items, then you will be more vulnerable. At the policy level, and from the macro perspective, agriculture in Jamaica is one of the greatest stabilising sectors for communities and nationally because the multiplier effect on the lives of communities and people, in good and bad times, is perhaps larger than any other sector.

Where there is foreign exchange instability, it gives local production the advantage because it does not require the same level of foreign exchange. The labour and other forms of activity are local and therefore, in these times of hardship, people revisit local produce as an attractive option.

What are some of the employment options the sector offers in this time of recession?

Because up to 61 per cent of our food basket is imported, there is tremendous scope to look at local options and to efficiently produce those local options and find a place for lettuce, tomatoes, fruits and vegetables – if we can control the consistency of supply. Agriculture has become quite sophisticated now; there is a lot more to it than just digging and ploughing. there is (for example) the greenhouse technology. Also, there are other forms of agriculture, like apriculture (honey production) that has tremendous demand. even poultry production can give you a fair return. There is also aquaculture, and sheep production is untapped. And there are mechanisms that allow you to improve productivity.

What of the skills required for getting into the sector?

There are two types of farmers – one is traditional farmers who have learned the skill from an apprenticeship programme, passed from fathers and grandfathers. And then there are those persons who go to UTech and CASE; they are more formalised. We (the ministry) have improved the extension services of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) so if someone is untrained then we are equipping RADA to provide them with support.

Some of them won’t have the collateral, but there is a programme in the ministry that recruits young people to develop a business plan and provide them with access to land and capital (low-cost capital) to go into agriculture projects. We also have a group of young people to be farm managers. it is intended to use them as catalysts to develop agriculture. The programme is called Youth in Agriculture. We also have a school garden programme intended to sensitise young people (about agriculture).

EDUCATION

Teaching in government schools comes to mind as one of those areas not likely to be affected by the recession, as successive governments have pledged to increase, not cut, the number of teachers in public schools. This is so in keeping with their commitment to transform the education system – an important aspect of which is the elimination of the shift system by the creation of more school spaces, and, by extension, more teachers.

As we hear from Doran Dixon, president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, and principal lecturer at Mico University College, the job of the teacher may become more difficult in this exceptional period, even as they are expected to hold on to their posts.

Is teaching a recession-proof occupation?

One is not saying teaching is totally recession proof, but education is being operated at basic minimum levels.

The budget for education constitutes primarily of salaries, so there is not a lot you can cut, even in a recession. If we are to survive the recession and come out in a position to move forward, a number of things have to remain in place and we feel education is one that should be given priority treatment at this time. It is the human capital, brain power, that is going to drive any recovery. There are still significant deficiencies in the system to be addressed, such as large class sizes, and inadequately funded programmes. From our position, the schools are not overstaffed, so to cut any jobs would increase student to teacher ratios which would not be conducive to best practices.

What are the skills required to become a teacher?

The requirement to enter teachers’ college was normally five CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Examinations Certificate) subjects with grades one and two, especially in the subjects they intend to teach. Persons with grade threes were accepted, but the colleges prefer ones and twos. (Meanwhile), the teacher training colleges in collaboration with the government have been moving basic teacher qualification from a diploma to a degree in keeping with the recommendations of the task force. We are being proactive in this transformation, so all our first-year students are reading for a degree in the areas in which they are specialising. The entry level for this programme is at least two CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination) units. Many students are coming in with significantly better qualifications than the minimum.

There is also a fast track for persons already with a degree in areas other than teaching. Those persons previously would have been classified as pre-trained graduates, the pay scale reflects that, and people are seeing the wisdom of becoming a trained graduate. There is also in-service training, particularly for pre-trained teachers at primary level. Pre-trained teachers are persons with the entry-level requirements for college who started working in the system and for various reasons could not enter a college for full-time study. They do the same programme, mainly through evening classes, but it takes them four or five years to complete the diploma. They, too, will also be upgraded to the degree level. We have partnered with the government to make loans available to them for upgrading. Mico also offers a Masters of Arts in Teaching.

What are the potential earnings?

The basic pay (before tax) for a trained graduate teacher is $969,292 to $1.2 million plus $94,700 for book and teacher allowance, plus special teachers’ allowance of $295,277.

The pre-trained graduate earns from $748,000 to $930,000 plus the two allowances mentioned.

ENVIRONMENT

This sector is typically the last to be given serious consideration, particularly when the economy is under stress. This ought not to be the case in this recession, notes Eleanor Jones, managing director of the consultancy firm, Environmental Solutions Limited. She said the environment energy sector was now critical, given its scope of entrepreneurship options.

What is your take on the sector in this recession?

If we can take our cue from what is happening in the US in terms of how they propose to fight back, you can see that an important part of the stimulus plan has significant attention or input of environmental considerations in the sense that they are looking to greening to help create new jobs and new direction. That greening can play both ways in the sense that more efficient use of resources like energy and water translate into a more efficient bottom line. In addition, there are more efficient ways of doing things.

What are the options for people in search of a job and with an interest in the sector?

What we are saying to graduates is if you have a solid science background, which is really an approach, not just Chemistry, Physics and Biology, you should open your mind to being innovative and also being practical with respect to how you can apply the scientific training to new ways of doing things. You should be willing to be innovative and you should align yourselves to companies like ESL which are solution-oriented and which are forward-thinking. You should also try to think entrepreneurial and not just look at the standard science job in the sense that you have been trained in biology or so. The jobs are just not out there abegging; the fact that the environment is an ad-on, it is one of the first things that people want to cut.

If you properly plan then you can provide opportunities to do things in a sustainable way. We really should be focusing on more long-term planning and products, and initiatives. And if we look at what’s happening in the US, energy and energy management is a big growth area. What we have to do now is make more efficient use of resources so we can get greater ‘bang for the buck’. It is the principle of eco-efficiency, which was coined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development years ago.

What of the funding options?

There is funding available for community-based initiatives that craft good environmental improvement programmes. You have the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica; the Global Environment Facility, which has funding for programmes for energy management and climate change adaptation; and the Forest Conservation Fund, which is looking at reafforestation and watersheds. We have problems with water, we have problems with landslides. What we are saying is now you have been trained, look at how you can craft programmes that you can really make a difference.

– Additional reporting by Luke Douglas