The CEO of a regional recruitment service said he hopes to see more young men pursue formal employment, encouraging them to use the many free resources at their disposal to seek gainful employment. 

“We see it a lot in the news in many Caribbean countries like Jamaica, The Bahamas and others, where too many young men are not involved with constructive activities like going to work,” observed Joseph Boll, CEO of Caribbean Employment Services Inc. “We’ve heard the call from prime ministers, business leaders and others for more young men to do something more productive with their time and we’d like to echo the call for young men to join the workforce.”

Boll’s company, Caribbean Employment, is a market-leading digital recruitment firm based in Barbados but operational throughout the Caribbean. It exclusively works with Caribbean jobseekers, helping to connect them with top employers in their respective home countries, throughout the Caribbean region and around the world.

Boll noted that, while there is a gender gap in labour, more women than men are employed in the region in general. In The Bahamas, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that while the country has hit its lowest unemployment since 2008, more women than men are working and participating in the labour force in more than 10 years. The Dominican Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) last year found that women in the Dominican Republic earn more than men do, on average. In Jamaica, the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) found that Jamaican women do more paid and unpaid labour than men do. 

Meanwhile, international organizations have reported on the high rates of crime in some Caribbean countries, noting that they are mostly perpetrated by young men.

“Many governments have employment programmes and even online job banks to help you find suitable jobs,” Boll noted. “At Caribbean Employment too, you can easily find work available through our website and we offer services free to jobseekers. 

He said that many jobseekers can feel discouraged and hold onto a belief that they cannot find work unless they “know someone” or unless their government representative gives them one, but that this is changing in today’s modern world. His firm operates on a completely digital basis, for example, and it’s just one of the many easily-accessible resources available.

“You don’t have to dress up in a suit and go ‘hit the pavement’ if you don’t want to. You can be on your phone and find a job and start working,” he said. “Opportunities are there and we would like to urge more young men to take advantage of them. While it is great to see women thriving in the region, the gender gap in labour should not exist in favour of one gender or the other. Equal participation in the workforce would be an ideal outcome for everyone and we just want to encourage all jobseekers that there are resources available for you.”