The Anatomy of Flawed Decisions
The decision by Gaston Browne and the government of Antigua and Barbuda to import 50 skilled construction workers from the Dominican Republic has been presented to the public as a pragmatic and necessary measure. The administration, led by Prime Minister Gaston Browne, argues that this action is an unavoidable response to a critical domestic skills shortage that threatens to derail the National Housing program, a project of significant public importance. However, a rigorous examination of the available evidence reveals that this official narrative is, at best, a gross oversimplification and, at worst, a deliberate misrepresentation of the nation’s labor dynamics. The “skills shortage” is not a naturally occurring phenomenon but a manufactured crisis, a convenient pretext that obscures a deeper, more troubling policy of neglecting local human capital in favor of short-term, cost-cutting measures that ultimately harm the nation’s long-term economic sovereignty.
The Government’s Official Stance
Gaston Browne’s justification rests on a simplistic, yet compelling, premise: there are not enough local carpenters and masons to meet the urgent demands of the National Housing program. Prime Minister Browne has publicly defended the decision by stating that the government advertised these positions for a period of two years, yet received an insufficient number of applications from qualified local workers. This portrayal casts the government as a diligent but ultimately stymied actor, forced to look overseas to fulfill its promises to citizens who have been waiting years for their homes. The Prime Minister’s rhetorical question, “What are we supposed to do, sit back and do nothing?” is designed to frame the importation of labor as the only responsible course of action, a last resort taken in the public interest. This narrative, however, collapses under the weight of scrutiny when confronted with the reality of Antigua and Barbuda’s own educational and vocational infrastructure.
Challenging the Narrative: The Myth of a Skills Vacuum
The assertion of a skills vacuum in carpentry and masonry is directly contradicted by the existence of multiple, well-established local institutions dedicated to providing accredited vocational training in these exact fields. The nation is not devoid of the means to produce skilled tradespeople; rather, the government has seemingly chosen to ignore its own capacity-building resources.
At the forefront of this local infrastructure is the Antigua State College (ASC). Its Department of Industrial Technology offers a comprehensive associate degree in “General Construction/Civil Engineering,” a program specifically designed to equip students with practical skills and foundational knowledge in engineering disciplines. Crucially, the curriculum is built upon the standards of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ), a recognized benchmark for competency across the region. The presence of such a program at the nation’s premier tertiary institution demonstrates a clear and established pathway for Antiguans and Barbudans to acquire the very skills the government claims are in short supply.
Beyond the ASC, The Harrison Centre Antigua and Barbuda School of Continuing Education (formerly ABICE) stands as a testament to the nation’s commitment to technical and vocational education. Billed as “The Leading Technical Vocational Training Institute in Antigua and Barbuda,” the Harrison Centre offers extensive day and evening programs in both Carpentry and Masonry. The Carpentry program, for instance, is arigorous two-year course that provides students with hands-on training in framing, finishing, roofing, and door and window installation. The curriculum integrates blueprint reading, safety practices, and trade mathematics, and culminates in an industry-recognized certification from the Antigua and Barbuda National Training Agency (ABNTA) as well as an ABICE TVET Certificate. The existence of these specialized, in-depth programs makes the claim of a national skills deficit in these areas highly implausible.
Furthermore, Antigua and Barbuda actively participates in regional initiatives aimed at enhancing construction skills. The country is part of the CDEMA “Safer Building Programme,” a partnership that certifies construction professionals in disaster-resilient building techniques according to a new CARICOM Regional Code of Practice. The Harrison Centre is the local contact for this very program, reinforcing its central role in upskilling the nation’s construction workforce.
The presence of these robust training institutions exposes a fundamental
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flaw in the government’s logic. If a genuine skills shortage was identified two years ago, as the Prime Minister claims, a proactive and responsible government would have immediately engaged with these local institutions. The logical course of action would have been to establish a strategic partnership to create a targeted, subsidized training and apprenticeship program. The government could have funded scholarships, offered incentives to construction firms to take on apprentices from ASC and the Harrison Centre, and worked with the schools to ensure their curricula were perfectly aligned with the specific needs of the National Housing program. The complete absence of any such reported initiative over the alleged two-year search period suggests that the government was never truly seeking a sustainable, local solution. The decision to import workers appears not as a reluctant last resort, but as a preferred and predetermined option, one that conveniently bypasses the nation’s own human development infrastructure. This transforms the narrative from one of a simple labor shortage into a story of a profound and deliberate failure of strategic workforce planning.
This failure is compounded by the government’s reliance on a glaring data vacuum to support its claims. The most recent comprehensive Labour Force Survey (LFS) publicly available is from 2018. Since that report was published, the national economy has been fundamentally reshaped by a series of severe external shocks. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, dealt a “major blow” to the tourism-dependent economy, reducing per capita GDP in 2020 back to its 1985 level and creating “persistent labor market weakness” into 2021. To declare a specific, sector-based skills shortage in 2025 based on pre-pandemic, seven-year-old data is analytically indefensible. It suggests one of two possibilities: either the government is making critical national policy decisions without access to current labor market data, which constitutes gross negligence; or it possesses more recent data that contradicts its “skills shortage” narrative and has chosen not to release it. In either case, this lack of transparency and reliance on archaic statistics fatally undermines the credibility of the government’s core justification for importing foreign labor.
The Economic Reality: Wages, Work, and Welfare in Antigua and Barbuda’s Construction Sector
The government’s “skills shortage” narrative conveniently ignores the most fundamental principle of any labor market: the relationship between supply,
demand, and price. In this context, the “price” is the wage offered to workers. A thorough analysis of the economic conditions in Antigua and Barbuda, particularly within the construction sector, reveals that the core issue is not a deficit of skills but a deficit of adequate compensation. The reluctance of local workers to apply for these positions is not a sign of their unavailability or lack of qualification; it is a rational economic response to wages that fail to provide for a dignified standard of living in a country with a high cost of living.
The National Labor Market Context
The claim of a widespread labor shortage is difficult to reconcile with the nation’s broader unemployment figures. While some historical data points to lower unemployment rates, more recent estimates paint a far more concerning picture. Data from 2021 to 2024 indicates a steady and troubling upward trend in unemployment, reaching a rate of 15.21% in 2024. A national unemployment rate of this magnitude suggests that thereis, in fact, a significant pool of citizens actively seeking work. This high unemployment rate directly challenges the government’s premise of a generalized labor scarcity and shifts the focus toward the specific conditions within the construction industry.
The construction sector is a vital component of the Antiguan and Barbudan economy and a significant source of employment. In 2018, the industry employed 8.0% of the total workforce, representing 3,806 people, an increase from 3,339 in 2015. This data confirms that a substantial number of citizens possess experience and skills relevant to the sector. The question, therefore, is not whether a local construction workforce exists, but why its members are not being successfully recruited for a major national project.
The Wage Discrepancy Analysis
The answer to that question becomes clear when examining the chasm between the wages being offered, the legal minimums, and the actual cost of living. The compensation structure in the construction sector is simply not competitive enough to attract and retain local talent.
As of January 2025, the national minimum wage in Antigua and Barbuda was increased to EC$9.00 per hour. For a standard 40-hour work week, this amounts to EC$360, or approximately EC$1,560 per month. This figure represents the absolute legal floor for compensation. However, reported salaries for construction workers often hover perilously close to this minimum. One market analysis estimates the annual salary range for a construction worker to be between EC20,000 and EC35,000. The lower end of this range equates to just EC1,667 per month, offering little incentive over a minimum wage position in a less physically demanding sector. Another salary survey provides a monthly gross range for a “Construction worker” of EC1,927 to EC$5,206, but critically notes that 80% of workers fall within this band, with 10% earning even less than the bottom figure.
This reality stands in stark contrast to the demands of organized labor. The Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU), representing the interests of the nation’s workforce, has been advocating for a living wage of EC$13.50 per hour. This proposed wage, which is 50% higher than the currentminimum, is not an arbitrary figure but an estimate of the income required to meet basic needs and maintain a decent standard of living. The significant gap between the union’s proposed living wage and the prevailing wages in the construction sector is the true source of the “labor shortage.”
The inadequacy of current wages is thrown into even sharper relief when measured against the high cost of living. In Antigua, the monthly rent for a modest one-bedroom apartment can range from EC$800 to EC$1,850. For a worker earning near the minimum wage or at the low end of the construction salary scale, rent alone can consume their entire monthly income, leaving nothing for food, utilities, transportation, or family care. It is economically irrational to expect local workers to eagerly accept jobs that cannot provide for their basic subsistence.
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