The Aruba Chamber of Commerce reports: GOA has taken the first steps to mitigate workers’ scarcity but should continue doing much more!
The scarcity of workers has been front and center in ALL discussions on the island, at every level of public discourse. The Food & Beverage Association raised red flags; CUA, the retailers’ organization was deeply concerned; the Aruba Hotel & Tourism Association held urgent meetings, formulating new strategies designed to bring more people into the job market; the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Aruba, KvK, lobbied and warned; the Aruba Trade & Industry Association, ATIA, explained the situation was dire, even before opening three large hotel properties, the St Regis, JOIA by Iberostar and Secrets.
All private sector entities held discussions with GOA, alerted the press, conducted surveys, took inventories, asked for help from an NGO aiding refugees and asylum seekers. They were all affected by the worrisome situation, where the Labor Department isn’t talking to the Immigration Authorities. As a result of that bottleneck, permits were not processed on a timely basis and while there are undocumented individuals on the island, who could become part of the local work force, waiting for their papers to come through, the chronic shortage of hands, paired with the inevitability of service decline, became an everyday reality here.
Concrete solutions were proposed to GOA, because the situation was only going to deteriorate. But as you know, the public and private sector have a different sense of urgency, and when the private sector pleads go-go-go, the public sector suggests a study, and deliberation by committee, tasked to examine the issues.
Finally, it seems recently that GOA recognized the urgency of the situation. The private sector is applauding the progress and the action already taken, but more measures must be introduced to remedy the labor crunch.
Finally seeing the light, the Minister of Labor, Energy & Integration, Glenbert Croes, instituted new rules in the management of residence permits and temporary work permits, effective August 1st, 2024.
In a press release KVK reported being cautiously optimistic, saying GOA took an important step to mitigate the problem of labor shortage facing Aruba, which is a serious threat to the economic stability of the country. But the job is incomplete; they should be doing more.
A large segment of Aruba’s work force is about to retire, the pool of available young people said to replace them, is small. A sharp drop in births in recent decades, only acerbated, that difficulty.
Bottomline, the situation is critical.
This week, at La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino, DIMAS, the Immigration Authority, gave a presentation to the business community. The room was completely full.
Obviously missing from the meeting, the Department of Labor, DPL.
The so-called Temporary Labor Shortage Solutions that are being introduced attempt to circumvent the slow and inefficient DPL and that naturally, explains its absence.
So, what changed?
All residents of any country in the Kingdom of The Netherlands are exempt from the DPL scrutiny, they can file a permit directly with the Immigration Authority without lingering, languishing in a drawer at DPL, while it is checking around if indeed the employer needs that position filled, with no other suitable candidate around. Interns are also exempt from the DPL inquiry. Holders of international student visas will be allowed to work. All Knowledge Migrants, those with HBO education or higher, equivalent to a college degree, are exempt from DPL’s process.
All migrants arrived in Aruba prior to January 1st, 2024, are considered migrants that are already present. Those who arrived after that date are considered new migrants. A migrant already present can apply for family reunification as soon as he/she has his/her residency or work permit. A migrant that is already present and that successfully concludes a 12-week course at Enseñansa Pa Empleo, is exempt of the DPL process. Required documents for the work permit process for migrants already present will no longer include a referral letter from past employers and education certificates, which are hard to get from their countries of origin. But they do still need proof they entered Aruba legally, through the airport, and must be in possession of a good conduct declaration.
The list of jobs that are exempt from the DPL process expanded, and now includes Technicians, at all levels, Bookkeepers/Accountants and Butchers.
The changes offer hope, but AHATA, ATIA, KVK, CUA continue to send their recommendations to the minister. It is estimated that perhaps 1,000 new legal, tax-paying employees will be added to the work force on the wings of the new rules.
The measures are temporary, and effective until December 31st, 2026.
