Countries with a skilled workforce are far more prosperous than countries with workers who major in academia and white collar services. The road to social and economic prosperity runs through the vocations.
It has become mantra that the plumber earns more than the office worker.
In the Virgin Islands, a skilled building contractor is in a class by himself. After Hurricane Irma, the skilled carpenter and roofer was a scarcity. The Virgin Islands had to import labour to fix the country.
In economics the vocations are critical for economic growth. The value of a country’s output in goods and services is directly linked with the availability of a skilled vocational workforce.
Germany is the great example of this fact. Germany’s superior economic output and productivity is directly linked with it’s possessing Europe’s most skilled workforce.
A technically skilled workforce builds resilience into an economy. Skilled workers drive national sufficiency.
Photo courtesy https://www.globalwaters.org/
From the dressmaker to the beautician, the mechanic to the heavy equipment operator, and maritime and airline services, vocational skills keep a country’s economy productive.
The vocations keep the population occupied in building resiliency and sufficiency into the country’s social and economic infrastructure.
At a time of crisis, such as national disaster, the country with a skilled workforce bounces back to normality much more quickly than a country that is lacking in vocational skills.
A skilled population enjoys a higher rate of employment, and adds to GDP growth.
Quality of life increases, as the availability of technical skills in the economy ensures the country works like an efficient and accurate clock.
In the Virgin Islands, the focus of education must be the vocations, and it must become mandatory that every child in academia learn a vocational skill in addition to reading and arithmetic.
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Dickson Igwe is an education official in the Virgin Islands. He is also a national sea safety instructor. He writes a national column across media and has authored a story book on the Caribbean: ‘The Adventures of a West Indian Villager’. Dickson is focused on economics articles, and he believes economics holds the answer to the full economic and social development of the Caribbean. He is of both West African and Caribbean heritage. Dickson is married with one son.
