Better skilled labor supply and trained entrepreneurs: a challenge for the Dominican Republic

By Odalis F. Marte

Frequently, business managers complain that the universities are not producing the kind of skilled labor supply they require noting that the market needs less lawyers and more engineers. Furthermore, there is a shortage of skills in certain trades such as plumbing, mechanics, etc.  There is a mismatch between demanded skills and what the labor market offers to employers in the Dominican Republic, which is consistent with a global shortage of skills[1]. That disconnect reflects the absence of coordination between the public and private sectors and a failure to  harmonize curricula in order to meet businesses’ needs, while at the same time, the historically low investment in education in the country.

To cap the skill shortage, both private and public sectors can cooperate in order to establish training programs to better serve the real needs of businesses for specific skills. Those training programs can be both in trade schools and at the college level. In the DR, the National Institute for Technical and Professional Training (INFOTEP) exists, a trade school that has served the private sector with technicians for several years. Also, the country has numerous universities, including a public one, that pretty much offer the same types of subjects although with different levels of quality.

The DR is somehow offering financing and training programs to its entrepreneurs since management skills can boost productivity as we have seen throughout the international experience. Lots of people operating micro- and small businesses don’t have a notion of basic accounting and don’t use banks. More education in general and institutional changes to ease financial integration of small business is necessary.

Competition in the markets would tend to enhance the quality of management as well as the need for better trained labor supply, as well as institutional reforms to improve the business environment.

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[1] http://www.internationalbusinessreport.com/Press-room/2013/skills.asp. In different proportions, Latin America lacks sufficient skilled labor to supply the increasing demand for well-trained personnel.