Potential workforce must be built

 TWO contrasting points of view last week on the need for skilled workers in Papua New Guinea shows that while the country’s indigenous workforce has the potential to fill a good number of those slots, the demand for an up-to-the-minute skilled workforce that exhibits the expertise and know-how required for complex projects will still, for the time being, be outsourced. 

Linda Babao, wife of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, while presenting a K10,000 donation from the O’Neill Foundation to the Red Shield Appeal in Lae, told her audience that with the current economic boom being experienced, the country had found itself having a shortage of skilled workers. 

Saddled with an abundance of natural resources, the need to develop those resources, and to benefit from them, has seen an upsurge in industry specific to those resources. 

Mining for precious metals and in-demand ore such as copper, nickel, cobalt, has meant that the need for a workforce with a specific skill set has been increased faster than our tertiary institutions can churn them out. 

On the other side of the ledger, University of Papua New Guinea pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Subba Rao, while speaking at the PNG Human Resources Institute’s annual awards ceremony last week, told awardees of the 2014 Langley Programme and those in attendance that companies in Papua New Guinea did not have to hire overseas for human resource officers and managers. 

He said the country’s schools could meet the present demand and furthermore, locally trained HR managers were just as qualified to handle the load as their overseas counterparts. 

It was to the detriment of the local workforce that their members were being overlooked for jobs well within their range and abilities. 

It is obvious from these two views that while there are some jobs in the labour market that can be adequately filled by Papua New Guineans, companies will tend to look for better alternatives if the quality is not present locally. 

That may be an indictment on the good many people that work hard and take pride in the jobs but it is also a telling trend. 

Who is to blame? What is the government, the ultimate body that can do something about this state of affairs, doing to ensure PNG’s future and present workforce is assured some kind of job security? 

Babao referenced what is sorely lacking in today’s jobless masses. 

“Many of our people are unable to find meaningful employment due to lack of skills, lack of education or poor education,” she said. 

Indeed education, and more importantly quality education, seems to be a key factor in deciding whether or not locals can compete with expatriate workers. 

Babao, who was focusing on the students at the technical and vocational level, said the country’s education system was not without its flaws and faults, and the Government alone could not address all of them. 

The Education Department has only recently embarked on a process of extricating itself from the tried, tested and failed outcomes-based approach. 

That surely has had some affect on a generation of students but where will the department now confidently turn to for inspiration to build a foundation for the coming generations? 

Thankfully, the government has decided to go back to the drawing board and rectify its poor choice. 

Be that as it may, PNG’s education system might not be fulfilling its mission if an increasing number of university graduates and even semi skilled workforce are not finding and keeping gainful employment in these heady times of unprecedented economic growth. 

“The Government alone cannot address all the education requirements, specialised education and have programmes to cater for those that have fallen out of the formal education system.” 

With a population of well over seven million, PNG should be now be able to provide, from within, the majority of its workforce needs, but this is not the case. 

Until such a time as the education system can equip students with what they need to be effective and productive members of the workforce companies will continue to bring in the talent, the skills and the attitude needed to get the job done efficiently. 

Of course the irony of the situation could be that Papua New Guineans faced with an ever competitive domestic job market, will seek education overseas and return home to be able to secure the positions a home grown education should have done for them initially