Today’s story about a local employment agency attending the Emigration Fair in Houten, the Netherlands, to recruit construction workers for St. Maarten is most interesting. The staffing company is seeking 30 candidates for its existing clients alone.
As pointed out earlier in this column on several occasions, the building sector is where most of the activity will be in the coming period and it also offers the best prospects for those losing their jobs at least temporarily in the hard-hit dominant hospitality industry.
Insurance monies and hurricane-relief aid, including hopefully soon the recovery assistance made available by the Netherlands via the World Bank, have for now to a large extent replaced tourism dollars and euros as main engines of the economy.
People should not get upset either because craftsmen are being sought from elsewhere, because the current demand by far exceeds local supply and they are looking for certified skilled personnel. Moreover, it’s important that especially resorts wanting to get their properties back in operational condition to reopen have sufficient manpower available to quickly do so.
Still, residents who fit the bill would do well to make use of opportunities provided on-island to get trained as builders at whatever level while receiving an allowance. Others such as the students recently sent to vocational courses in Trinidad and Guadeloupe should be able to fill some of the “professional” vacancies, for which a monthly salary of US $2,000 was mentioned.
Always keep in mind that there’s nothing wrong with an honest day’s work for a fair day’s pay. It certainly beats sitting around feeling sorry for oneself.
