D2 posted:You are right that the oil industry functions on their own system of on demand skilled workers which they bring in from wherever they are when they need them. These are mainly Philippinos and Indians. One sees this all over the oil sectors in whatever country. Guyanese will constitute less than 10 percent of the direct work force.
However, our government's administrative structures will balloon out by 30 to 40 percent. These jobs, most in building and administration will be where Guyanese with talent will be employed and we will also begin to have a temporary foreign workforce ( immigration will tighten up) that will match our own with numbers. There will be hundreds areas of opportunities for the Guyanese person to make money and often this is because they are connected to the government.
It will take creative effort to balance the economy with emphasis in agriculture and industrial manufacturing because the curse of oil is an undiversified economy with abandoning of agriculture and farming.
You are both right so no need to quarrel. There will be extremely uncertain times for most Guyanese and the uneducated and unskilled and uncreative ( most of the population) will suffer social and cultural dislocations if we are not careful. Given who we are we are not going to handle this well as usual.
Given the current hiring trend in govt jobs, this means mostly Blacks will benefit directly as they are disproportionately represented in the public sector. The Indos will benefit mostly from the trickle down effect as Blacks tend to be more desirable consumers.