Perceptions of community leaders with respect to workforce skills in the caribbean region

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the workplace and the skills employees need to participate in today's global economy. There are many articles on the growing skills gap and the need to build capacity to develop and retain competitive advantage as individuals, firms and countries. This research paper is a preliminary step in assessing the skills gap in the Caribbean region using a mixed method approach including a survey and semi-structured interviews with members of Rotary International. Members of Rotary International were selected for the research as they are community leaders and have experience promoting the importance of vocational training. The research suggests that there are skills gaps across the Caribbean and that there is a need for additional structured, flexible, industry certified training to build workforce capacity in the region.