Wayne Panton was in good form on Friday’s (26) Rooster’s Crosstalk radio morning show.

Cayman’s Minister of Financial Services, Commerce and Environment said the government must have accurate and credible information. He was talking about putting Caymanians first into the workforce. However, because of the lack of recorded accurate information about the precise numbers of Caymanians unemployed and their skills, it is impossible for government to match what jobs are available to the unemployed Caymanian.

“Our Achilles heel,” Panton said,  “is that we don’t have a system that works properly. The workforce agency is designed to meet the essential needs of matching vacancies to the unemployed but it isn’t working. We need to understand who are the unemployed Caymanians and what jobs are available and then what the skill sets are of those that are out of work and what are the legitimate requirements of the employers.”

He also said employers needed to understand and accept when local people are fully employed the economy functions better and not try and beat the system.

“We need them to know we are not going to sit idly by and accept that happening,” he said. “This government is very much interested in addressing this problem and to ensure that Caymanians are given priority for jobs, training and development as required by law.”

He conceded that the majority of employers were law abiding but the Progressives’ (PPM) government “will not turn a blind eye to infringements regarding work permits and employment in exchange for political support. We want a fair system that benefits everyone and there is no reason why we can’t address this given that half the work force is on permits.

“We have a Caymanian first policy and the decisions we make will be about achieving a balance between Caymanians and the needs of the economy and we are taking the necessary steps to implement policies before the end of year.”

Panton gave a warning to employers.

“The government will be enforcing not just the letter of the immigration laws but also the spirit of the law to ensure local people were participating fully in the economy,” he said emphatically.