APNU Member of Parliament Sharma Solomon has called on the government to publish its manpower assessments and establish measurable targets for training and employing Guyanese, arguing that job creation figures alone do not show whether workers are securing better-paid, stable employment.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Solomon, APNU’s representative on natural resources, said the expansion of oil production and infrastructure must be accompanied by investment in the skills Guyanese need to benefit from those developments.
“Guyana’s economic growth has to mean more than the expansion of oil production, the construction of infrastructure and the announcement of mostly low paying government jobs,” he said. “It must mean that Guyanese are properly prepared, qualified and positioned to benefit from the opportunities being created.”
Solomon acknowledged government figures showing approximately 156,000 additional persons employed between the first quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2025, with unemployment declining to 6.2 per cent. However, he contended that the figures required closer examination of the quality, security and distribution of employment.
Citing the Bureau of Statistics’ fourth-quarter 2025 Labour Force Survey, he said informal employment stood at 43.2 per cent under its basic measurement, youth unemployment was 12.6 per cent, and 27.1 per cent of young people were neither employed nor in education or training.
These indicators, he argued, warranted greater scrutiny alongside the headline employment gains.
Solomon also cited a labour assessment undertaken by the Centre for Local Business Development with support from the University of Guyana, which he said projected demand for between 53,000 and 60,000 additional workers over five years.
He said the assessment warned that the anticipated output from universities and technical and vocational institutions would be insufficient to meet demand. He characterised the gap as a national planning failure that could not be resolved simply by advertising vacancies or recruiting overseas.
The government has itself acknowledged the skills constraint. Its 2026 Mid-Year Report identified the central labour-market challenge as the supply and composition of skills needed to fill existing and emerging positions.
Solomon questioned the status of the announced National Manpower Planning Agency and asked when comprehensive assessments of industry shortages would be made public.
He also called for information on how many Guyanese had been trained and certified, how many subsequently secured employment, and what arrangements ensured that foreign expertise was accompanied by skills transfer.
“A welder, electrician, mechanic, engineer, surveyor or heavy equipment operator must be able to see a pathway from training to certification, from certification to employment, and from employment to professional advancement,” he said.
Technical institutions, he argued, should be linked directly to industry through apprenticeships, recognised qualifications and measurable employment targets.
Solomon further argued that retaining skilled workers required competitive remuneration, merit-based opportunities and professional development. Recruiting foreign expertise could address immediate shortages, he said, but should not replace the development of local human resources.
Turning to local content, he cited the government’s preliminary estimate of US$466.2 million spent in priority areas during the first half of 2026. He questioned how much of that expenditure had strengthened Guyanese-owned businesses, created sustainable employment and enabled local contractors to undertake more sophisticated work.
“Guyanese must not be confined to providing labour while others control the contracts, supply chains and higher-value opportunities,” he said.
Solomon called on the Labour Minister to explain the government’s targets for skilled and professional employment, how wages and career progression would be monitored, and how employers benefiting from natural resources and public investment would be held accountable for training Guyanese.
He said the country needed a coordinated workforce strategy supported by reliable labour-market information and regular public reporting.
“The measure of this oil economy must not simply be how much oil we produce or how many people we employ,” Solomon said. “It must be how much better equipped Guyanese are to earn, build, own and prosper from the wealth beneath their feet.”
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