KINGSTON, Jamaica — Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr Taneisha Ingleton, has underscored the importance of the agency’s work in bridging the skills gap within Jamaica’s workforce as a strategic imperative for driving economic growth.

She was speaking during a joint meeting of the Rotary clubs of St Andrew North and Downtown Kingston at the Jamaica National (JN) Conference Suites in Kingston on Monday.

Dr Ingleton explained that a skills gap occurs when there is “a mismatch between the skills that job seekers possess and those that employers require.”

This is often due to demographic shifts, technological advancements and/or lack of training.

Dr Ingleton, who was speaking on the theme: ‘Building Jamaica’s Future: The Role of Technical and Vocational Training’, identified three distinct types of skills gaps.

“You have the hard skills gap, which is the lack of technical skills, and then you have the soft skills gap, which is the lack of the communication and the interpersonal skills… and then you have the digital skills gap, which is the lack of digital literacy,” she explained.

Dr Ingleton noted that, if left unaddressed, skills gaps can result in reduced productivity, high employee turnover, and diminished competitiveness.

She emphasised that closing the skills gap remains central to the HEART/NSTA Trust’s mandate to align training programmes with the evolving needs of industry and the labour market.

Dr Ingleton pointed out that the agency is actively fulfilling this mandate through its 26 institutions, more than 70 community-based training interventions, and scholarship support for tertiary-level TVET programmes at local universities.

She further explained that HEART is prioritising the enhancement of training quality and certification standards as part of efforts to improve Jamaica’s global competitiveness.

The managing director noted that, “Jamaica is ranked at 71 out of 141 countries, and we are saying that we can do better than that.”

Dr Ingleton said HEART is expanding its services to at-risk youth while intensifying focus on priority sectors including agri-business, global services, manufacturing, tourism, logistics, renewable energy, and construction.

“A World Bank study indicated that technological productivity drivers, such as innovation, education and investment in human capital, are critical for sustaining productivity growth and accounted for 65 to 75 per cent of productivity improvement between 1998 and 2018.

“What this is indicating is that the investment that the HEART/NSTA Trust is making in young people will work… [and] that is what is going to turn over the economy, that is what is going to create changes that we need to see,” she maintained.

–          JIS