KINGSTON, Jamaica- Months into the restructuring of work permits for foreign nationals, Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr says the wait time for permits is already down to five weeks and greater efficiency is expected within a year, upon completion of the process.

Nearly a decade ago, the labour ministry introduced several categories of employment and fees, based on skill set demand, all aimed at preventing a saturation of skills already available locally. But this time around, the restructuring process looks very different, with much of the focus now on speeding up application processing time for foreign nationals as the Government works to plug the skills gap that business players say has worsened with time.

The work permit process to get foreigners to take up high-level jobs, particularly in the productive sectors, has not just been labelled as lengthy, in some cases up to a year, it’s also said to be chaotic, expensive, bureaucratic, and inefficient — all of which have prompted the Government to dispose of the legacy system.

Press statements from the ministry have said the new system and processes will create a dynamic labour market to foster productivity, promote flexibility, provide an effective social safety net, and increase real incomes. It will remove some of the need for physical visits to the ministry’s offices through online access.

“This is a critical area. When you talk about policy, the Government of Jamaica has never had an issue, there is no adverse policy in terms of bringing the necessary skills into the country. Of course, the priority must be to prepare our people to participate in the labour force.

“The law facilitates high-skilled people coming into Jamaica and facilitates the filling of gaps where there are shortages in labour…the framework is there but it must be operated by a system. However, the process has been an issue that has clogged and [is] causing inordinate delays, and so that is where our focus is,” Minister Charles said.

He was speaking on the topic: Brain Gain: Solving the Labour Shortage and Competing for Global Talent, at the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) forum on Wednesday.

Charles, who was appointed minister of labour and social security on May 22, 2023, said since he took office, the ministry has put muscle behind the automation of the work permit regime, with the help of a consultant.

“We are now moving into the phase of completion and testing which will allow us to completely transform the work permit regime, hopefully, within the next year. That will see most, if not all of the issues that are consistently raised disappear.

“In fact, without automation in the last two months, based on adjustments in processes, we have been able to shorten the time for the work permit below five weeks. It means that we have identified the issue, determined the strategy, and we are advancing the solutions,” Charles said.

Data show that large economies like North America and the United Kingdom (UK) have been in recruitment mode after the pandemic upended the labour market, resulting in many job openings but not enough workers to participate. The hardest-hit sectors over the years have been education and health care, but skilled artisans and craftsmen are also being lost to neighbouring Caribbean islands and North America, largely due to better pay and improved living conditions.

In contrast, Jamaica has had the third-lowest number of immigrants in the Caribbean up to about 2015, behind Cuba and Haiti according to research coming out of CaPRI’s presentation. That was partly due to difficulties in the work permit process, high crime, income level, social instability, and relatively low employment numbers.

But as employment numbers rise and the economy stabilises, co-lead researcher on labour shortages Ronaldo Blake says recommendations coming out of the research include a review of Jamaica’s labour policy and opportunities for potential workers to move to Jamaica independently.

“They want to come here to explore opportunities in Jamaica but there are still policy-restrictive measures. Jamaica is not particularly an attractive country when compared to some of its neighbours, in terms of earning capacity and social issues in society, so what needs to happen in addition to the reform of process is the reform of policy,” Blake said.

Member of Parliament Lisa Hanna, in weighing in on the labour shortage conversation, said the issue has been a “politically thorny” one as a significant percentage of individuals on the voters list fall in the employed category and would be concerned about being replaced by migrants.

“If you look at the voting patterns across the country and the popular vote, many of the people who vote don’t want their jobs taken. I don’t think the conversation has been put to them in a way that they understand that the persons who would come will grow the economy, grow the per capita income, and increase their purchasing power — because it has a multiplier effect,” Hanna said.