The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is closer to setting up a labour market information system for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRoque, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on behalf of the CARICOM Secretariat with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in June. The MOU allows CARICOM Member States to utilise ‘.Stat’, a software tool, for the facilitation of labour market analysis and other related functions. The MOU was signed at the CARICOM Secretariat’s headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.
‘.Stat’ was developed by a community of experts under the leadership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The ILO, which is a member of the .Stat community, presented the software at a regional consultation hosted by the CARICOM Secretariat in October 2015. This was attended by representatives of Ministries of Labour, Statistics departments and Social Security agencies from the Member States. Coming out of subsequent meetings with Member States, it was agreed that this software tool was appropriate to facilitate the setting up of a CARICOM Labour Market Information System (LMIS). Apart from facilitating labour market analysis, the software tool allows for the monitoring and reporting on policies as well as information sharing and coordination.
This MOU is critical in achieving the objectives of a major project under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) to establish a regional LMIS for the CSME.
