Addressing Lack of Second Chances for Young Men in Barbados Workforce - DLP Crime Commission Meeting Highlights Need for Solutions

Not enough young people in Barbados are being given second chances, especially males who have made mistakes on the job.

And now those same males are no longer interested in the work environment.

The giving of such second chances was one of many suggestions which came to the fore when the first town hall meeting of the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) Crime Commission was held at the party’s George Street, Belleville, St Michael headquarters recently.

Opposition Senator Ryan Walters, a business manager, said research needed to be done to determine why more young women were seeking quality jobs than males. He also said not being given second chances could lead to wayward young men being more prone to commit crime.

“We need that research to find out why our young men are not actively seeking employment. It’s not that they’re not succeeding; they’re not coming,” he said.

“When we look at our labour force, we need to give our young men more chances. It takes a while for young men to get settled into jobs. Young men need much more chances than young females.

“They need a chance to correct and fix the wrongs they have done. Too many businesses are not willing to accept them after mistakes are made,” he noted.

The commission is made up of attorney and former DLP president Verla De Peiza as chairman, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and management specialist Maxine McClean, social worker Kelly Conway, and head of the DLP’s Youth Commission Shaquani Hunte.

Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne, who conceptualised the commission, was also in attendance.

De Peiza suggested that one way to help reduce crime and at the same time establish national development was for quality jobs to be matched with requisite skill sets.

She was responding to a statement from the audience by Adrian Bascombe who said young Barbadian men were tired of handouts from politicians and wanted quality jobs. He also bemoaned a lack of law enforcement.

“We have high unemployment but the disconnect may be due to a particular lack of skill sets,” De Peiza said.

“The question is, how do we bridge that gap and have a rethink? We have a shortage of nurses but high unemployment. It’s not only about finding employment, it’s about finding quality employment. We have to be able to match skill sets with jobs. We have such issues in other areas outside nursing.”

Hazel Brewster, in her contribution, said more attention needs to be paid to how guns are being smuggled into the country.

The elderly woman said it seemed impossible now for police or coast guard personnel to properly patrol the coastlines, and that was leading to the high number of illegal firearms coming in.

Young Dre Smith said a new look was needed on how young people are facilitated in Barbados.

“The issue isn’t only high unemployment. The issue is the jobs we have, that the conditions are horrible. We need to pay more attention to the jobs that we approach people with and the conditions we want people to work under.”

He added that a paradigm shift was needed to help young people.

“We have so many talented young people in Barbados but the reason many are on the block is because they have no capital. It takes money to build a barbershop. We need a system where young people with skill sets can approach the Government for funding. It all goes back into development.”

Smith said there was still a vacuum in how young people could be linked to jobs where they could work remotely.

Former St George South candidate Dr Dawn-Marie Armstrong said many young Barbadians who sought experiences outside Barbados but still had a lot to offer the island, were now fearful of returning to work.

“A major concern is that if all of us remain in the diaspora, then who would remain to work in Barbados? We are being valued by other countries. But now we’re being asked to come back and it seems many in Barbados feel threatened by their (young people’s) presence,” said the DLP’s new spokesperson on sports.

“A discussion needs to be had about what part we can play. A lot of us want to come home but are fearful. The sports industry is ripe for development in the medium to long term. I hope Barbados can become a place where young people want to stay and not leave,” she said.