International Labour Organization to help Turks and Caicos build $2.1 million labour market information system

The Turks and Caicos Islands Government is turning to the International Labour Organization (ILO) to develop a $2.1 million Labour Market Information System aimed at identifying available skills, improving employment opportunities for Islanders and providing better evidence for decisions on foreign labour.

ROBINSON: “We have to make sure that we are the leaders of our own destiny,”

Deputy Premier Jamell Robinson announced the initiative during an appearance on This Is What’s Up 3.0, explaining that Cabinet had agreed to the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the international organisation.

The partnership will also include a skills audit to establish what expertise already exists in the country and where shortages remain. Robinson said he hoped the system would be delivered within approximately 12 months.

The project forms part of a broader overhaul of employment administration accompanying the proposed Immigration Bill 2026. Robinson said the government was restructuring the Employment Services Department, commonly called the Labour Department, and strengthening its ability to enforce business staffing plans.

Those plans are intended to help Turks and Caicos Islanders progress from entry-level positions into supervisory, middle-management and senior-management roles.

“We have to make sure that we are the leaders of our own destiny,” Robinson said, arguing that economic and population growth must translate into greater opportunities for Islanders.

A central feature of the proposed information system will be wider registration of workers, including people already employed. Robinson said the existing registration arrangements had largely attracted people seeking immediate employment, leaving the department without a comprehensive picture of the workforce.

Under the planned approach, he said, registration would be mandatory for people already in the country and those entering its labour market.

That would allow the department to identify qualified candidates who might otherwise miss opportunities because they are employed elsewhere and do not appear on its register.

Robinson illustrated the problem with a hotel manager responsible for hundreds of employees at a large property who could possess the experience needed to lead a smaller hotel. Without information connecting that worker to a vacancy, an employer could seek a foreign recruit while a suitable Islander remained unaware of the opening.

The system, he said, would give officials a better understanding of workers’ qualifications, transferable experience and potential for advancement.

The accompanying skills audit will also examine whether the foreign workforce matches the country’s actual economic needs.

Robinson said Turks and Caicos had more than 24,000 active work permit holders, while emphasising that the figure fluctuates as permits expire, applications are processed and workers leave.

He questioned whether all those workers were recorded under categories accurately reflecting the jobs they perform. Some people listed as labourers, he suggested, could possess or be using specialist construction skills.

The audit would help establish how many workers are needed in particular occupations and whether individuals should be placed in different permit categories.

Information could be collected through work permit applications and renewals, Robinson said, making those processes an important source of workforce data.

He also outlined plans to reintroduce National Insurance Board and National Health Insurance Board clearance letters. Contribution records, he explained, would help officials assess declared earnings and whether employment arrangements support applications.

Beyond workers currently living in the islands, the interview explored how the system could eventually connect employers with skilled Turks and Caicos Islanders overseas.

Robinson said the initial priority would be registering people already in the country, but an online portal could also allow Islanders abroad to submit their qualifications and express interest in returning for suitable jobs.

He suggested that matching returning Islanders with vacancies could help reduce dependence on imported labour while bringing local talent into the economy.

For Robinson, the intended outcome is a department equipped to make better-informed decisions about recruitment, promotion and work permits.

He said his priorities were securing opportunities for the Turks and Caicos Islander worker and ensuring local employers had access to the skills their businesses genuinely needed.