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BiggerCOPYMECON warns construction sector declining due to shortage of Haitian labor
Santo Domingo.- Eliseo Cristopher, president of the Dominican Confederation of Micro, Small, and Medium Construction Companies (COPYMECON), praised the efforts of the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) to address irregular migration, particularly involving Haitian nationals. He emphasized that the construction industry relies heavily on Haitian labor and that regularizing their status is essential to prevent economic setbacks.
“If we don’t have a Haitian workforce, construction will inevitably slow down, resulting in multimillion-dollar losses,” Cristopher warned. He noted that the recent regularization of approximately 100,000 Haitian nationals is insufficient, comparing it to “throwing a grain of corn into a farm with 100,000 chickens.”
Cristopher called for broader measures, proposing that up to 400,000 Haitian workers be granted renewable six-month temporary permits. These permits could be adjusted according to the needs of the construction sector. At the same time, he stressed the urgency of training Dominican workers to reduce long-term dependency on undocumented foreign labor.
Pay more and the Dominican poor will flock to these jobs!
Not necessarily, Haitians are hard working people and construction is hard work, The bottom line is that the DR needs these workers for agriculture and construction and some type of guest worker program is a good solution
CORRECT.
Yes, necessarily. Before the massive rise in illegal Haitian migration to DR, it was mostly Dominicans doing these jobs. Dominicans were pushed out and displaced of said jobs by Haitians that were willing to do it for a fraction of the pay. If you pay Dominicans a livable wage, they will gladly do these jobs!