By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A new Bay Street tourist attraction is aiming to hire up to 75 persons by the end of this week following its Saturday recruitment drive, the Government’s top labour official said yesterday.

Robert Farquharson, director of labour, told Tribune Business that 135-140 persons attended, out of just over 300 who pre-registered, at last Saturday’s job fair that his department held in conjunction with I Dream of Sugar.

“The company was able to hire about 20 people on the spot,” he said. “The intention was to hire 75 people. They have about 55 people they are looking at, and second and third interviews have been arranged for this week. I spoke to their operations manager and they are pretty pleased with the selection who showed up. They were able to hire 20 people, and are looking to hire about 55 people this coming week.”

Mr Farquharson said the Department of Labour has also partnered with a cruise line for the recruitment of 200 persons for one of their private island getaways in the Berry Islands, with the hiring focused on Andros. “They want to hire people for all different segments,” he explained. “They need to hire some people right now for an expansion of services they have planned later this year.

“Jobs are available. They’re looking to hire people from Andros and the Berry Islands. All those Androsians looking to be employed, I think it’s on April 3 we’re having the job fair, so we’ll be doing some advertising and public relations for that.”

On New Providence, Mr Farquharson said the Department of Labour will this Saturday take its Labour on the Blocks 2.0 initiative to the Freetown constituency from 9am to 3pm at the Pilgrim Baptist Church. Among the employers that will be present are Kelly’s House and Home; John Bull; Aquapure; Fusion Superplex; Builders Mall (FYP); McDonald’s; and Aetos Holdings (Wendy’s, Marco’s Pizza and Popeyes).

Mr Farquharson earlier this month said the ‘Labour on the Blocks’ job fair series has resulted in employment for more than 3,000 Bahamian job seekers since last May. “Between New Providence and Grand Bahama, we’ve held nine ‘Labour on the Blocks’ since May 2022, and we estimate they’ve employed at little over 3,000 from those job fairs. That was New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco,” he said at the time.

“Because of the partnerships we have developed we have a pretty good idea of what type employers need, so we are seeking to align those persons in our database and encourage them to come out. The database has close to 65,000 persons registered, but it doesn’t mean they are all unemployed.”

Asked whether all Bahamians seeking work will be able to find it, Mr Farquharson replied then: “I can say without a doubt that there are a lot of employment opportunities and vacancies out there. That’s one of the reasons why we have Labour on the Blocks. We know there are opportunities out there, so we bring job seekers and employers together in one place.

“I think for most Bahamians looking for work there are opportunities, particularly in the construction field. We have a number of projects coming online in the pipeline in Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera, where additional workers are required. We’re encouraging people, whether they are semi-skilled or fully skilled in the construction industry, to register with us as employment opportunities are coming up.”