ILO gearing up for the CSME

AS THE Caribbean region moves steadfastly toward establishment of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), the need grows for comparable, reliable, timely and readily accessible labour market information. During the last two years, the ILO Subregional Office for the Caribbean, through its project, the Caribbean Labour Market Information System Project (CLMIS), has been working closely with 13 Caribbean countries to enhance its capacity to generate, analyse and utilise labour market information which responds to this need. The outcome of its efforts will be presented at the ILO Caribbean Labour Market Information Conference which starts tomorrow at the Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s. Anthony Roberts, Minister of Labour, will deliver the feature address at the opening ceremony.

Hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour  and the Ministry of Planning, the conference will seek to  formulate a consensus on a core set of labour market indicators and related guidelines on concepts, definitions and classifications as well as production and dissemination strategies. The project will also launch two electronic products which will make a significant contribution to the harmonisation of labour market information in the Caribbean, a prerequisite for the establishment of the CSME. Funded by the US Department of Labour, the Caribbean Labour Market Information System Project has provided technical assistance and resources to the respective countries to establish and enhance labour force and occupational wage surveys, explore the data potential of NIS databases, update existing national classification of occupations, produce internationally-comparable labour market indicators and establish national labour market information libraries.