Engineer shortage plagues Carib Cement
IN a recent forum hosted by Jampro, managing director of Caribbean Cement Limited (CCCL) Yago Castro highlighted a persisting shortage of skilled maintenance workers in Jamaica.
He said that the company continued to tackle this problem for its own operations through the CEMEX Campus, which trains graduates in engineering from local universities.
For about seven weeks the students learn about health and safety, lime operations and aggregates, cement technology, quality, sustainability, supply chain, social impact, sales, distribution, planning, and human resources management.
The company indicated that the training is also being used as part of its Professionals in Development Programme to recruit students who will serve in several areas through paid internship. Currently, over 15 graduates are engaged.
The company states that the programme is also part of its social impact initiative, preparing young people to function, not only in their but other multinational companies as well.
The website, averagesalarysurvey.com indicates that engineers are amongst the best paid university graduates in Jamaica. It cites the average salary for engineers and technicians in Jamaica as being $2,898,223 per year. The most typical amount earned is $1,049,103. Data is based on 33 salary surveys.
The site states that salaries are different for men and women. Men receive an average salary of $2,961,619 while women receive a salary of $2,263,515.
Comparatively, for maintenance engineers and technicians in the United States — another popular job market for Jamaican engineers — the average salary is US$64,000 (about $9.6 million) annually or 30.85 hourly for a maintenance engineer. Entry-level positions in engineering in that market pay upwards of US$42,000 annually.
Caribbeanjobs.com, on November 26, 2021, indicated 61 vacancies for maintenance engineers. The jobs are posted by maintenance companies, business process outsourcing companies, hotels, bakeries, fast food outlets and other companies. Locally, bauxite companies have also been advertising for engineers.
