Senior Reporter
dareece.polo@guardian.co.tt
Tens of thousands of people have applied to the Government’s newly launched online employment platform, in what Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said is a clear sign that citizens are ready to work.
A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister said more than 30,000 applications were submitted within 24 hours of the website’s launch on Sunday at employtt.gov.tt/jobsrecruitmentdrive.
“The response from citizens across our nation has been extraordinary,” the statement quoted Persad-Bissessar as saying. “In just one day, over 30,000 people have stepped forward through the National Recruitment Drive; a clear sign that our people are ready to work, to grow, and to build a better Trinidad and Tobago.
“This initiative is about real jobs for people. Empowering families, strengthening communities, and driving progress in every part of our country,” the Prime Minister added. “Opportunities remain open across ministries and state agencies, and support continues at the Cycling Velodrome in Couva, with more information hubs opening nationwide from Tuesday.”
Works and Transport Minister Jearlean John said the surge in applications reflects citizens’ “keen interest” in a fair and transparent process to access work opportunities. She also defended the Government’s decision to create a new website.
“If you have a new process, a National Recruitment Drive, what went in before, you’re not going to treat with that,” she said. “You are asking people for the jobs that you (they) are interested in right now. You want to see what is the demand for jobs right now in the country. In addition, the people who applied before are free to apply again. We don’t know if they were successful, if they’re not successful.”
John said the updated system is part of the Government’s effort to “clean up” a process long criticised for inefficiency and favouritism.
“A lot of these databases are not active,” she said. “For instance, in some of the ministries… people were being asked to pay to get their name down in some book, or to get to the front of the line. So all of this is what the Prime Minister would have seen, heard, and so on, and decided, okay, let’s clean it up. So this is a new process that is open, new, transparent, and clean. And everybody, they’re all free, every citizen, they’re free to apply.”
However, president of the National Trade Union Centre and long-time labour leader Michael Annisette said the overwhelming response did not surprise him, given the scale of unemployment and lack of sustainable job creation.
He pointed out that thousands of young people enter the labour market each year with limited options.
“We have about over 8,000 people who leave school almost annually. And in terms of job, job possibilities, it is almost negative.”
He also warned that without sustainable jobs and living wages, the country risks deepening inequality.
Annisette also cautioned against what he called “economic knee-jerk reactions.”
“If you send home 10,000 people and then you didn’t sit down and determine ‘how am I going to deal with the 10,000 people who are the most vulnerable in our society?’ To me, that is not forward economic thinking. That is neo-liberalism thinking and not what I want to call progressive economic thinking.”
Guardian Media reached out to the Opposition Leader, People’s National Movement Chairman, and Public Relations Officer for comment, but they did not respond.
