Country lacks locals with trade skills

 THE country lacks qualified locals to meet the demand in the extractive sector and technical trade fields.

This has resulted in an increase in demand for foreign labour, according to Carmen Voigt-Graf, a researcher attached with the National Research Institute.

He has monitored the influx of foreign workers to PNG since 2002.

She found that Asian countries were the largest supplier of labour to PNG, with the Philippines in front followed by China.  

Voigt-Graf told a 2015 PNG Update seminar in Port Moresby recently that the report was not an accurate representation of figures on the ground as most of the foreigners usually travelled for short-term business employment.

She said 17,551 foreign managers and 13,440 technical and trade specialists had PNG work permits allowing them to operate under different occupational categories.

Voigt-Graf said the data should be used by the education department to find out what areas in the technical and trade sector lacked skilled workers and develop human resources to cater for the demand.