The downstream contractor labour force is predominantly male, with just twelve percent of the labour force being female in 2021. Over the pandemic period the number of females in the contractor labour force fell even more sharply than the number of males. During 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year, the percent of female workers was 14% or over 2,000 female workers. This fell by almost 50% by 2021, when there were just over 1,000 female workers in the contractor labour force, compared to a drop of 38% for the male labour force in the same period.
Note on the data: In Trinidad & Tobago, every employee of a contractor or service company entering any of the downstream gas industry facilities, including the LNG facility, all the petrochemical plants, other heavy industrial plants and the power generation facilities must complete a basic assessment of their HSE knowledge once every two years. This is called the PLEA assessment and it has to be successfully completed by everyone working for a contractor or service company who needs to enter one of the plants, from company directors to garbage collectors. The assessment is administered through a computer-based system, mainly at the Energy Chamber’s offices in Point Lisas (though sometimes at remote locations if there is a need). Data about who has completed the PLEA assessment therefore gives a good snapshot of the downstream contractor labour force.
This pattern of more females leaving the labour force during the pandemic than males has been a feature noted elsewhere, probably due to the fact that women have had to typically take on the brunt of additional childcare responsibilities while schools remained closed, given the prevalence of continued household division of labour in Trinidad & Tobago.
Given that many of the jobs in the downstream gas sector are relatively well paid, this sharp gender imbalance in the labour force is something that should be noted by the industry and policymakers.
The contractor labour force predominantly consists of relatively young workers, with the 30 to 40 age cohort making up the biggest category.
The contractor labour force mainly lives in south Trinidad, with 71% reporting that they live in San Fernando or other towns and villages in the south of the country in 2020. This is followed by central Trinidad, with a further twenty percent of the contractor labour force.
For more information on the downstream labour force, click here