The “1000 Jobs in 1000 Days” initiative which was launched under the Virgin Islands Party Government in 2019 only managed to employ 17 percent of the total registered applicants during the programme’s time period.
This was revealed in the Special Report of the Auditor General on Claude Skeleton Cline’s contracts under the Andrew-Fahie led Virgin Islands Party Government from the period March 25, 2019 to September 17, 2021.
According to the report, Cline was contracted to “monitor planning and execution to ensure the delivery of 1000 Jobs in 1000 Days.”
“At the end of the period a report was prepared by the Labour Department on the “1000 Jobs in 1000 Days” programme covering August 2019 to May 2022. This showed that there were 1,145 job seeking candidates registered and 194 placements,” the report stated.
In his first report, Cline expressed that he worked with the implementation team to launch the programme and said he held discussions with energy company Power 52 on job placements and the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College for related training for the Anegada Renewable Energy Project.
In addition, Cline said he obtained commitments from four major cruise lines for recruitment of Virgin Islanders aboard cruise ships.
As it relates to Power 52, the Auditor General found that while training was provided no employment resulted from the discussions during Cline’s contracted tenure.
On the Seafarer initiative which sought to create job opportunities on cruise lines for BVIslanders and Belongers, an initial commitment of approximately 200 hires was made for entry level positions by one of the cruise liners.
Despite a policy and a legislation being drafted and passed in the House of Assembly, the progression was deemed as moderate and the Auditor General found it was insufficient to generate any employment.