More young men urged to enter GSS sector
Minister of industry, investment and commerce, Aubyn Hill, is urging more young men to join the pool of workers in the country’s Global Services Sector (GSS).
Hill made the call while addressing the recent graduation ceremony for the first set of 114 graduates of the GSS apprenticeship programme at the Jamaica Promotions Corporation’s (JAMPRO) head office in Kingston.
The apprenticeship programme is a flagship initiative of the GSS project, which is a five-year, US$15 million undertaking being implemented by JAMPRO.
Hill outlined that the programme will require more of Jamaica’s young men and women to partake in the project as they will be exposed to numerous job opportunities in the country.
“I want to see a lot more men in here…we need to take these young men who are strong and get them in this programme so other forces don’t take them,” he said.
“I want to see a lot more women coming in and a lot more young men. We need to cut off those (negative) forces and make sure the young men come into the workforce and become exporters,” he added.
The programme will provide Jamaicans with access to training and better jobs in the sector, which includes knowledge process outsourcing, information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing.
In addition to that, the 114 apprentices who graduated have qualified for the industry-endorsed National Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) certificate in supervisory management issued by the HEART/NSTA Trust.
He also said that through the apprenticeship programme, GSS firms can up-skill their employees into new areas of management and provide them with the necessary training to fill leadership roles.
He noted that the programme continues to give Jamaica a competitive advantage in the global outsourcing space and is one of the main areas of discussion when courting and engaging investors globally.
Hill has expressed that the global services sector is a very good place to work and a booming industry that has kept on growing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
– JIS
