Worker shortage, not bias, driving expat hires
Despite persistent public complaints that businesses are overlooking Virgin Islanders in favour of imported labour, businessman and political leader Mark Vanterpool has argued that the bigger issue is a shortage of locals willing to take up available jobs.
Speaking on Cindy Rosan’s Morning Facts show, Vanterpool was asked to respond to the criticism that the business community prefers hiring expats over locals. The businessman explained that hiring locals is actually the preferred option for employers because it is far less costly and less bureaucratic than recruiting workers from overseas.
“I used to tell the Labour Department that any local person you have who needs a job and wants to work, send them to me,” Vanterpool said. “If I apply for five persons to come in and Labour has five, send them to me, and I will hire them immediately.”
He added: “It’s so much less costly for us to hire a local person. You bring in people from overseas, you’ve got to pay and go through a lengthy process. It’s a lot simpler to hire our own local people.”
Vanterpool’s comments come against a backdrop of growing public frustration over the number of work permits being approved. At the same time, some Virgin Islanders and long-term residents remain unemployed or complain of being shut out of opportunities.
But Vanterpool suggested the reality on the ground is more complicated. He pointed to recent hiring efforts at his businesses, including a new restaurant, saying local response has been underwhelming.
“We advertised for workers, and I believe it’s one local person that applied,” he said, noting that management had a difficult time getting local recruits and said poaching workers from other restaurants was the next viable option.
“The pool of local workers who want to work is not there as much as we say,” Vanterpool argued.
He acknowledged, however, that the territory has a strong history of producing quality workers, particularly in hospitality.
“There weren’t any better hospitality workers in the entire Virgin Islands than BVIslanders,” he said, recalling a time when local workers were preferred in hotels both in the BVI and USVI.
According to Vanterpool, part of the challenge is cultural. He argued that for decades, many young people gravitated toward office jobs in the financial services sector, viewing them as easier and more attractive than service-based work. With declining opportunities in the financial services sector, Vanterpool said the territory urgently needs to retrain and redirect young people into hospitality and service industries.
“If you’re going to build hotels, who’s going to work in those hotels and new restaurants? So we have to get our people back to thinking that service is not servitude,” he said.
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pure bullsh**
It is time for us to put aside the rhetoric and have an honest, mature conversation about this issue. To borrow an analogy, it is like confronting a serious illness but insisting it is only a minor cold. Across the developing world, including here in the BVI, there is a well-established pattern: as standards of living rise, many of the most physically demanding and lower-paying jobs are increasingly filled by immigrant labour. These are jobs that often require long hours on one’s feet and difficult working conditions. The reality is that many of the same voices advancing this narrative about local not being hired would not encourage their own children to pursue these occupations and would be among the first to object if those children had to perform work they viewed as beneath their aspirations. And why is Mark Vanterpool being singled out? He may be the most visible example, but speak to business owners throughout the hospitality sector and they will tell you exactly what he is saying. This is not a secret; it is a reality that many acknowledge privately and that the country must address honestly.
This particular business person is part of the problem. While he was in government why does his record not show him lobbying for the MINIMUM WAGES to increase?!? I’ll tell you why; it hurts HIS bottom line. Why didn’t he lobby for the consumer protection act/bill to be implemented? Again, hurts his bottom line which is driven by pure profits!
I know of many belongers and locals who’ve worked for his establishments and they all say the same things about the environment they work in.
Let this be a warning to ALL those individuals that want to throw their proverbial hats in the ring this upcoming general elections- all your dirty laundry will be aired out for all and sundry to make a determination if you are suitable! No more mammaguying the public saying one thing and doing a 180 and not serving the territory interested before yourselves!!! Bag a lip service with nothing to back it up with proof!
Mark is correct. I know lots of people who manage businesses, including those who were raised here. They say the same thing. There are simply not enough people available and willing to take on these roles.
SO TIRED OF SEEING THIS MAN. CHUPPPESS
He’s right…financial services work looks peachy until you look at the effort required to qualify for those jobs. No one wants to bus tables for minimum wage but many start off there and work their way up through hard effort, diligence and a desire to learn. Plenty of successful people out there who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Problem seems to be that these qualities do not seem in evidence among those who feel entitled.
don’t be an eady yacht, you can attend the graduation and award ceremonies right around the corner and see the excellence of our students and the accomplishments of those that are across industries in the UK, and US.
That is rubbish. The financial services jobs are no different to the others. Those are being taken over by expats as well. Locals with more qualifications and experience have to train them and work under them.
All talks
Mark tell the truth it’s all about cheap labor and taking advantage of the Philippinians that work for you there’s some many young people looking jobs but you and others willing to fly in someone from thousands of miles why rite way and Bobby is the only supermarket that’s holding it’s grounds.you a sell out that’s your nature. You can’t win no seat again.
This!!!
Cost ofl iving in the BVI is high af, locals aren’t applying casue you are offering next to nothing for these jobs and it’s the same with almost ever industry in the BVI expect which one?
There is NOTHING CHEAP about hiring a Filipino or others from Far East. You can tell that you have never owned or ran anything except your mouth. It’s far cheaper and easier to hire a local but the reality is that there are some jobs locals do NOT WANT and nothing is wrong with that
Mark can dress up his response all he wants, but we as a country must acknowledge that BVI businesses will likely continue to face challenges filling certain roles for quite some time. However, the conversation shouldn’t end there. The BVI, albeit a melting pot of nationalities, is a small country with a small population, so rapid growth in work permits affects us differently than it would larger countries.
This is not about blaming any one nationality or attacking people who come here to work hard and build a life for themselves. The real concern is whether the current pace and scale are sustainable long-term. When the local population is already small, and businesses increasingly rely on imported labor because it is easier, cheaper, or more available, there is a genuine concern that Virgin Islanders are slowly becoming economically and culturally sidelined in their own country.
Looking ahead, the country cannot focus only on filling jobs for today without also thinking about the future of its people. If locals are not properly trained, encouraged, recruited, and retained, it will naturally reshape not only the workforce and consumer base but also large parts of our national identity over time.
This issue has nothing to do with race. Countries all over the world openly discuss immigration, labor dependency, housing pressure, and demographic change. The BVI should be able to have those same conversations openly, honestly, and respectfully, without people immediately assuming xenophobia.
What many people want is a balance: A country that remains welcoming to outsiders while also protecting opportunities, stability, and a strong future for Virgin Islanders. Currently, it’s unclear whether there is a long-term plan to achieve that balance. It’s overwhelming to see a country just change before your eyes, and no one addresses it.
These are conversations worth having now, not years from now when the problems may be much harder to address. We need action NOW, not later!!!
Nothing but hot air. Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Just like he could go out campaigning to solicit votes on election day, he could do the same when looking to hire. However, we all know how the game plays. Whoever, comes to the BVI has someone to bring and the game goes on. Then the businesses create a position for the.
Jobs must be advertised, is it that the BVI is now advertising in Asia?
I know the recently outed airport guy advertised mainly on Caribbeanjobs.com.
The BVI had better take a serious look at how things are going. I for one stop shopping at those places that only hire Asians. Let them support the businesses like the businesses support them.
cause you would hire a young person, they would work for the season or the event they saving for and gone as you blink again.