An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

5.

B2B marketing

10. Marketing Research

Top 10 most in-demand customer service skills

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Customer Service Customer Support

6. 7. 8. 9.

Communication Etiquette

Online Chat Support

Email Communication

Answering Product Questions

Phone Support Email Support

Data Entry 10. Administrative Support

Source: Upwork (2022)

Evidence of modern working arrangements already exists in the Caribbean. For example, during

the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Commercial Bank in Jamaica launched a Gig Network

platform, and since its launch, over 3,000 freelancers have listed their services on the platform

(NCB 2022; Jamaica Gleaner 2020). Worrying though are the region’s demographic trends which

point towards an increasingly ageing population. Caribbean Council (2022) noted that Moody’s

Report found the Caribbean as having the highest net outward migration (especially of highly

educated, productive young people and women) and the highest age dependency ratio in the world,

with one- quarter of the region’s population expected to be over 60 and closer to 80 years old by

2050. These demographic trends create implications for shortages of qualified labour and the

reallocation of resources towards services like healthcare rather than durable goods, as previously

discussed.

1.2. An Overview of Existing Regional & National Skills Demand

The Caribbean has economically underperformed relative to other small states, with annual GDP growth rates averaging only 0.8% compared to 4.7% in other small states (OECD 2019b). 7

Structural imbalances (consistent current account deficits and unsustainable debt levels) and the

lack of competitiveness and productivity are the main sources of the region’s weak economic

growth (OECD 2019b; Alleyne 2018). Comprised largely of services-based economies heavily

dependent on the tourism sector, the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has reignited

interest in economic diversification, which, with the entrance of new government administrations,

is giving rise to new priority sectors and development trajectories across many CARIFORUM

7 Statistics from the OECD (2019) study focus on Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Monserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

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