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Michigan State

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This is to certify that the
thesis entitled
'I‘Hn. ULVLLUPI'umT 0F AIV INDUSTnIAL LADUK FUnCh.‘ In
A ULVLLOPIHG CULM‘hY: A CASL STUDY UF beLIZr.
presented by

WHITFILLD bDluUND CUIVSTAhTIim TILLETT

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

flaw—degree in _La.hoL_a.nd_

Industrial helations

”MM/[Ly

Major professor

 

Date W8

0-7639

O‘J’l’iRTlUE FINES ARE 25¢ PER DAY
PER. ITEM

Return to Book drop to remove
this checkout from your record.

 

 

 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL LABOR FORCE IN A

DEVELOPING COUNTRY: A CASE STUDY OF BELIZE

BY

Whitfield Edmund Constantine Tillett

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
School of Labor and Industrial Relations

1979

ABSTRACT

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL LABOR FORCE IN A
DEVELOPING COUNTRY: A CASE STUDY OF BELIZE

BY

Whitfield Edmund Constantine Tillett

Recent development planning in Belize has emphasized the need
for expansion of the industrial sector both in manufacturing and agri-
cultural industries. At the same time the Development Plans, for 1964-
1970 and 1977-1979, have indicated a shortage of skilled labor and the
need for more managerial and supervisory personnel. Industrial devel-
opment would create the need for an industrial labor force, skilled,
committed and able to conform to the discipline of industrial employment.

This study identified and analyzed the major issues involved
in developing an industrial labor force in Belize. An analysis of the
Development Plans, for 1964-1970 and 1977-1979, as they relate to plan-
ning for industrialization and planning for developing the necessary
labor force has also been carried out.

Based on those analyses and available statistical data, the
study points out certain policy implications related to the development
of an industrial labor force. Taking into account the policy implica-
tions and the emphasis on increased industrial development, the study
concludes with recommendations which cover the pertinent issues for

industrial labor force development in Belize.

To:

My wific Kathy, Mom and Dad,
and my Siatca and Baothet.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The writer wishes to acknowledge the guidance of his thesis
committee comprising Professors Daniel H. Kruger, Einar Hardin and
Richard N. Block. Sincere appreciation is extended to Professor
Daniel Kruger who, as an advisor and Chairman of my committee,
provided the guidance and constructive criticisms which led to
the completion of this study.

Special recognition goes to A. Bryan Card, Senior Economist
with the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Belize. Bryan was able to
provide me with the most recent government publications which helped
to ensure that accurate and up-to-date information was included in
this thesis.

Most of all I wish to thank my wife Kathy who read and typed
the first draft of this thesis. Without her patience, encouragement

and sacrifice, this thesis would not have been possible.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES .
LIST OF FIGURES
Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION .

General Scope and Character of the Study .
The Country .
Geography
The Population . .
Ethnic Composition of the Population .
Overview of the Economy of Belize
Summary . .

II. THE NATURE OF THE LABOR FORCE

The Institutional Ties of the Worker to the
Traditional Society
The Family .
The Land .
The Labor Force
Composition of the Labor Force By Age and Sex
The System of Education
Vocational Education .
Administration .
Summary . . .

III. NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES .

Development Planning . .

National Development Planning in Belize
The 1964-1970 Development Plan .
The 1977-1979 Development Plan .

A Policy for Industrial Development

Implications of the Industrial Development Policy

Summary

iv

Page
vi

viii

31
31
34
37
44
51
58
59
62

64

64
69
69
82
88
97
101

Chapter
IV. ANALYSIS OF DEVELOPMENT POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The Need for an Industrial Labor Force . .
Policy Guidelines for Developing an Industrial
Labor Force
Factors Affecting the Supply of an Industrial
Labor Force . . . . . . . . . . .
The Labor Force Participation Rate .
Variation in Hours of Work . . . . . .
The Supply of Skills . . . . . . .
Strategies for Developing an Industrial Labor Force.
Recruitment of Labor .
Education and Training .
Mobility of Labor
Commitment of Labor
Summary . . . . . .

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .

Development P1anning--A Fashion? .
Development of Human Resources .
Recommendations . . . . .
Basic Data for Planning
Manpower Policy . .
Education and Training .

APPENDIX

A. MAP OF BELIZE INDICATING POSITION IN CENTRAL AMERICA

IN RELATION TO THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS AND NORTH AMERICA .

B. LIST OF FOOD IMPORTS BY STANDARD INTERNATIONAL
TRADE CLASSIFICATION, 1964 .

C. NOTE ON THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM)

BIBLIOGRAPHY .

Page
105
106
110

113
114
118
121
125
126
131
135
137
143

146
148
153
155
155

156
162

165

166
167

168

Table

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

LIST OF TABLES

Census Population of Districts and Towns in Belize,
1861-1970 .

Belize: Crude Birth Rates, Crude Death Rates and
Natural Increase, 1946-1975 .

Place of Birth of the Population of British Honduras
as Given in the Decinnial Censuses from 1861 to 1946

Place of Birth of the Population of Belize as Given
by the 1960 Census . . . . . .

Ethnic Composition of the Population of Belize,
1946 and 1970 .

Domestic Exports 1950-1965 in '000 Belize Dollars
(Main Commodities) . . . . . . . . . . .

Value of Sugar and Citrus Exports as a Percentage
of Total Domestic Exports, 1965-1975

Visible Balance of Trade for the Period 1971-1975 .

Revenue, Expenditure and Annual Balance of the Central
Government of Belize, 1971-1975 .

Total Population and Labor Force by Sex and Age Groups,
Population Census 1970

Primary Education School Population by Age and Sex,
1970-1975 .

Secondary Education School Population by Age and Sex,
1970-1975 .

Countries Grouped by Human Resource Development and
Gross National Product, 1958-1959 .

Government of Belize Major Resources of Revenue for
1964 and 1965 .

vi

Page

11

15

16

17

22

23

25

26

49

53

56

72

74

Table

15.

16.

17.

18.

Revenue From Import Duties Classified by S.I.T.C.
for 1964 and 1965 . . . . . . . . .

Agricultural Production in Belize Comparative Output
1964 and 1970 .

Population Fourteen Years and Under by Sex and Single
Years of Age, 1970 . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Structure of the Economically Active Population,
Male and Female, 1970 .

vii

Page

75

77

98

140

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Population of Belize, 1861-1970, Showing Relative
Rates of Increase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2. Population by Age and Sex Composition, 1946,
1960 and 1970 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

3. Backward Bending Supply Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

viii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

General Scope and Character of the Study

 

It is the purpose of this study to identify and analyze the
major issues involved in the development of an effective, productive

1 a developing country.

and committed industrial labor force in Belize,
In this study my intention is not to carry out an exhaustive analysis
of all the issues related to the development of an industrial labor
force; but to examine those which are considered to be most important,
as concisely as possible.

In order to present the background against which this thesis
will be developed, it will be necessary to point out certain general-
izations about the nature of underdevelopment in Belize. These will
embrace specific internal diversities of culture, physical geography
and the nature of the traditional society, which have a direct bearing
on the problems encountered in attempting industrialization. One of
the central problems of the economic development of developing coun-

tries is industrialization because of its close interrelation with

social and cultural changes.

 

1Belize was formerly known as British Honduras. On June 1, 1973
the name of the country was changed from British Honduras to Belize.
Throughout this study the country will be referred to as Belize, except
in the use of direct quotes from published sources which contain the
name British Honduras.

Nevertheless industrialization is one method by which the
backwardness and poverty of developing countries may be diminished
or totally eliminated. However if a program of industrialization is
to have any chance of success, one of the critical factors will be the
availability of an industrial labor force. According to Galenson,
"Lack of industrial skills is widely believed to be another serious
impediment to development."2
But in addition to Galenson's observation above, Myers has
pointed out that:
Industrialization requires not only the recruitment
and training of an industrial labor force but also its
commitment to an industrial as opposed to an agricultural
way of life. As an economically underdeveloped nation
moves toward industrialization, some part of the rural
labor force is either pushed or pulled toward the growing
industrial cities. But ties with the village and the land
may remain strong. The development of a labor force which
accepts the discipline of factory work and the conditions
of urban living is much slower than the initial recruit-
ment of enough workers to man the mills and factories.3
Therefore it is important that those planning a strategy for
industrialization recognize the importance of the human factor in those
plans. As a former Director General of the International Labor Organi-
zation (ILO) stated at the Seventh Asian Regional Conference (Teheran,

December 1971), "Plans which ignore the human factor in their

application will remain plans."“

 

2Walter Galenson, ed., Labor and Economic Development (New York:
John Wiley 8 Sons, Inc., 1959), p. 4.

3Charles A. Myers, "India," in Labor and Economic Development,
ed. Walter Galenson (New York: John Wiley 6 Sons, Inc., 1959), p. 26.

“United Nations, International Labor Organization, Record of
the Seventh Asian Regional Conference (Teheran, 4-14 December 1971),
Document GB.l85/3/3, pp. 15-16.

This study will therefore analyze the Development Plans of the
Government of Belize since 1964 as they relate to industrialization.
It will then deal with the following questions which have a direct
bearing on the development of an industrial labor force to meet the
manpower demands of industrialization:

1. Why is there a need for the development of an efficient,
productive and committed labor force in Belize?

2. Are there policy guidelines either in the public or private
sector, or both, for the development of an industrial labor
force; and if so, what are these guidelines?

3. Since the government has "embarked on an active programme
to promote industrial development,"5 what are the problems
which might be encountered in implementing such a program
in Belize with respect to the supply of an industrial

labor force?

Certain issues which arise from the questions listed above are:
a. Recruitment of labor;
b. Education and training;
c. Mobility of labor; and
d. Commitment of labor.
As these are pertinent to the development of an industrial labor force,
they will be dealt with in view of the conclusions reached in the

discussion of the preceding questions.

 

5Government of Belize, Belize New Nation in Central America
(Belmopan, Belize: Cubola Productions, 1976), p. 22.

 

After such analysis and discussion, it is then possible to make
certain recommendations relating to the development of an industrial
labor force in Belize.

The first chapter of this thesis will present background
information on Belize, including important geographical features,
demographic data and an overview of the economy. There are certain
ties which tend to link the worker to the traditional society and affect
the nature of the labor force. These are studied in Chapter II, along
with the function of the education system in preparing the individual
for the labor market.

Chapter III analyzes the Development Plans as they relate to
industrial development and presents certain implications arising from
a policy of industrialization. There are questions which will arise
from such an analysis, and Chapter IV deals with the need for an
industrial labor force, the policy surrounding the development of
such a labor force, and the problems which may arise in its development.

In addition, the four important issues of recruitment, education
and training, mobility, and commitment of an industrial labor force
form the concluding sections of the chapter. After analyzing the
policy of industrialization in the Development Plans and studying
the issues and implications which have a bearing on that policy,
Chapter V presents certain recommendations for the development of
an industrial labor force in Belize, and the conclusions from the

study.

The Country

 

Geography

Belize is located on the east coast of Central America, being
bordered on the north by Mexico and on the west and south by Guatemala.
The Caribbean Sea lies along its entire eastern coast. The total land
area of the country is 8,866 square miles including 266 square miles
of offshore islands, locally called 'cayes.‘ See Appendix A for map
of Belize.

A distinguishing feature of the country's coastal region is a
broad area extending approximately twenty miles offshore interspersed
with small islands (cayes) sheltered behind a coral barrier reef. This
reef extends along the entire length of the country and although broken
in parts presents a slight hazard to shipping.

The country can be divided into three main physical regions:

1. The coastal belt which is low lying and dotted with mangrove
swamps, ponds and lagoons;
2. the intermediate region of gently undulating plain covered

with pine forests and gradually extending into thick tropical

jungle; and

3. the highlands consisting of a mountain range (the Maya

Mountains) along the border with Guatemala. These mountains

rise to over 3,000 feet and provide some of the most scenic

areas of the country.

The entire country is interlaced by numerous rivers, most of
which flow eastward into the Caribbean Sea. In the past many of these
rivers provided the country's principal transportation system, but
their importance has gradually declined with the development of an
all-weather road system and the boats have given way to motor vehicles.

Belize has a tropical to subtropical climate with the northern
half of the country being quite dry, while the southern half is gener-
ally wet with tropical rain forest. On the coast, temperatures range
from 50°F to a maximum of 96°F; with the mean monthly average in
January of 75°F and 81°F in July. Readings of 100°F are not uncommon
in the interior of the country, but in the mountainous area the temper-
ature may fall to a low of 40°F at night.

The dry season extends from January to April with the rainy
season being from May to December. However August is a relatively dry
month and is usually referred to as the "manger" (meager) or-little dry
season. Relative humidity is high in the coastal areas although this
is alleviated to some extent by the easterly trade winds blowing in
from the Caribbean Sea. Annual rainfall ranges from less than 60 inches

in the north to over 160 inches in the south of the country.

The Population

 

In the past most commentators on Belizean affairs regarded
population as a problem not from the point of view of overpopulation
but rather, underpopulation. One writer has pointed out that:

Virtually every book, pamphlet and report published

about the country has pointed to the small population as
the most serious obstacle to economic progress. Innumerable

plans to attract immigrants have been devised. . . . But,
on the whole, the colonial authorities took little active
part in the promotion of such schemes and, with few
exceptions, they were mainly unsuccessful.6

Prior to 1861 only estimates of population are available as
the first census was not conducted until that year. Thereafter
censuses were taken regularly every ten years until 1931, and since
then there have only been three, 1946, 1960 and 1970. The total
population according to these census figures and the relative rates
of increase are shown in Table 1 and Figure 1, respectively. The
relative rates of increase can be clearly seen since the population
growth is plotted on semi-log paper in Figure l.

The census data indicate that except for the first intercensal
period (1861-1871) the population grew almost steadily at approximately
1.0 to 1.5 percent annually until 1946. Between 1946 and 1960 the popu-
lation increased from 59,220 to 90,505, approximately 53 percent in
14 years.. According to the 1970 census figures, the population was
119,934 giving an approximate increase of 33 percent in 10 years.
However during the period 1957 to 1960 about 1,760 Mennonites were
allowed to migrate to Belize and that figure accounted for 6 percent
of the increase in population between 1946 and 1960. A rapid rate of
population growth (above 3 percent per annum) has become the dominant

trend and the main factor responsible for that growth rate is the

difference between births and deaths.

 

6Narda Dobson, A History of Belize (London: Longman Caribbean
Limited, 1973), p. 243.

 

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.oetuuuoum :uumumox msmcouchm mn- .a .nwvm_ .oumuuo xuocowumum m.xumomuz no: ”cov:04v commmmesou geese—uuow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mausvco: cmmumhn can «cease nmwumum ozu mo phone: .mom:o_ou es» hem macaw mo xuauouuow .cwmumum awoke “ouusow
m~o.mo wea.mv ~ko.nn n_e.o~ oom..~ cvn.w_ och.m~ ens... mew.c_ .n.= .a.= _~uoh
nac.~ mmn.~ man." m-._ NNa ask nmo m_m one .a.= .a.= «vuou macs;
mnm.o km~.m eav.n vew.~ anm.~ ovo.~ a-.~ mvo._ ann._ .u.= .a.= uuaumcaa
vBN .u.= .a.: .a.: .m.: .a.: .a.= .a.: .n.: .m.: .a.: canal—0m
omc.mn som.~n cam._~ kmo.c. n~v.~_ aaq.o. n~_.o Naa.o koa.m .u.c .a.: cam—om
~Nm.~ noo.~ vo~.~ ~_~._ Ame.“ mm» new .u.: .a.: .a.= .a.= cognac Lou
onom> osacom
onm.e cam._ wem._ oo~._ kn~._ was man mom ASN .a.= .~.c omumcus cam
mmo.m km_.~ mam.~ mac." ma~.~ can we.._ sea k-._ .a.c .a.= gun: nuance
o~a.v _a_.n cm_.~ km_.~ mo¢.~ mma._ evo._ Q_m.~ cws._ .~.= .a.c smaouou
”march
enm.a_~ mcm.om c-.om sen._m k_n.mv cmv.ov akv.kn .nv._n va.k~ c_k.v~ mmo.m~ "much
moa.e m_k.k ncv.o ~m~.c ~q~.m e_~.v kh~.e m_~.n ova—op
«om.v cm~.n kco.N
m~o.n~ oca.o~ nan.o ocm.v omm.e vow.e mmc.v nek.n goocu ccaum
mmn.ov vac.cv _an.o~ _oo.- amn.a— w_s.m_ _ka.n_ ~_m._. ouason
mc~.__ mom.o~ ka_.m
ack.m~ «ca.__ can.“ «mo.m ecq.m ~s~.e mmw.~ koo.~ osau
.vo.a~ con.o~ on.m mom.m ace.m amw.m omm.c nem.q xaaz oucaco
mmv.__ NNm.o~ "ma.4_
~mm.m~ ank.m nas.o mam.o omk.o noo.o vom.m evm.m .aNouou
”wuomuummo
oka_ cams eem_ .na_ _~a_ __a_ .cm. .am_ .mw. saw. .6».
caa_-~cm_ .mN_Sum zs mzzo» az< mhu~¢am_a no zo_P<S=aoa mamzmu

~ mam<h

Census Population of Belize, 1861-1970

1861 . . . . 25,635 1911 . . . . 40,458
1871 . . . . 24,710 1921 . . . . 45,317
1881 . . . . 27,452 1931 . . . . 51,347
1891 . . . . 31,471 1946 .‘. . . 59,220
1901 . . . . 37,479 1960 . . . . 90,505

1970 . . . . 119,934

Population

Sources:

200,000 P
180,000 P
160,000 r
140,000 -

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40 , um.)

 

 

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970

Year

FIGURE 1. POPULATION OF BELIZE, 1861-1970, SHOWING RELATIVE RATES OF INCREASE.

Great Britain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Report of the British Guiana

 

and British Honduras Settlement Commission (London: His Majesty's Stationery
Office, 1948), p. 2 2; and Census Research Programme, Population Census of the
Commonwealth Caribbean, 1960, and 1970 (Mona, Jamaica, W.I.: University of
the West Indies, 1965 and 1973). -——_-

 

 

 

10

According to the Development Plan, "this expansion was
essentially due to the natural increase in population primarily
because of the rapid and continued decline in death rate."7 That
observation is substantiated by the findings of Waddell who stated
in 1961 that "there has been no substantial migration to or from
British Honduras [Belize] for several decades. . . . [In addition],
emigration appears to have been insignificant.”8

Table 2 presents a vivid picture of the rise and fall in birth
and death rates, respectively, over the period 1946 to 1975.

The post-World War II period has been one of unprecedented
growth in the population of Belize as indicated by Tables 1 and 2.
While growth has occurred in all Districts and Towns, it has been
most spectacular in Belize City, which has almost one-third of the
country's total population.

The implications of an overall population growth rate of
3 percent per annum has been recognized and the Development Plan
(1964-1970) estimated that by 1980 the population would be approximately
173,000. Although the Development Plan indicated some concern at the
high population growth rate, there is also concern of a different

nature according to the following statement in the plan:

 

7Government of Belize, Development Plan 1964-1970 (Belize
City, Belize: Government Printer, 1964), p. 10.

 

8D. A. G. Waddell, British Honduras, A Historical and
Contemporary Survey (London: Oxford University Press, 1961),
p. 63.

 

 

11

TABLE 2

BELIZE: CRUDE BIRTH RATES, CRUDE DEATH RATES AND
NATURAL INCREASE, 1946-1975

 

 

 

Crude Crude
Birth Rate Death Rate Natural Increase
Year (a) (bl (a) - (b)
1946 34.3 16.9 17.4
1950 39.4 11.1 28.3
1955 42.8 10.6 32.2
1960 44.7 7.8 36.9
1965 43.0 6.6 36.4
1970 37.1 6.8 30.3
1975 37.4 5.3 32.1

 

Source: Registrar General's Annual Reports 1946-1968 and Central
Planning Unit, Belize Annual Abstract of Statistics, 1968,
1970-1972 and 1975.

However, the fundamental issue facing the country is
not whether the rate of population growth is too fast in
relation to the development possibilities, it is whether
a sustained improvement in per caput can be obtained at
all in so small a population.9
In dealing with those observations in the Development Plan,
the issue of population in all its manifestations should be taken into
account. However, in so doing, care should be taken to avoid becoming

entangled in the concept of 'optimal population.‘ Lewis has pointed

out that:

 

9Government of Belize, Development Plan, 1964-1970, p. 11.

 

12

Some very small countries . . . face the problem that
their populations are much too large in relation to agri-
cultural development and at the same time too small to
support a wide range of industrial development.10

Population pressure can be called a relative term and its use

should be restricted to a specific set of variables, but this issue

will be further discussed in Chapter 11.

Ethnic Composition of the Population

 

Roberts has commented that:
There are marked differences in ethnic composition
between the non-Spanish-speaking elements of the Caribbean
and the populations of Spanish descent . . . the only
territories in the non-Spanish-speaking groups where an
appreciable number of indigenous people exist today are
the Guianas and British Honduras. 1
Prior to the arrival of British settlers in Belize around 1638,
the country was inhabited by indigenous Maya Indians descendants of
"a larger group known as the Mesoamericans who inhabited the area
between the dry Mexican plateau and the line running south from the
Republic of Honduras to El Salvador."12 As the Mayas occupied mainly

the hinterland of the country, they were hardly disturbed by the arrival

of the British, who settled near the coast.

 

1°W. A. Lewis, The Theory of Economic Growth (London: Allen 8
Unwin, 1955), p. 87.

 

116. W. Roberts, "Populations of the Non-Spanish—Speaking
Caribbean," in Population Dilemma in Latin America, ed. J. M. Stycos
and J. Arias (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, Inc., 1966), pp. 71-72.

 

12Narda Dobson, p. 12.

13

The first immigrant settlers in Belize were mainly whites
(British) and blacks (slaves from Africa). By 1806 it was reported
by the agent of the colony in London that the "population was 6,000,
comprising 600 whites, 3,500 male slaves, 1,300 slaves who were female
and children. In addition, there were 600 free Negroes and coloured
people."13 Waddell reports that by 1802 about 150 Black Caribs were

1“ These Caribs

living in the area now known as Stann Creek in Belize.
were the descendants of a group deported from the Island of St. Vincent
to Ruatan off the coast of the Republic of Honduras in 1797, after an
uprising in St. Vincent.

By the 18505 Belize received one of its largest groups of
immigrants in the form of over 5,000 Spanish-speaking refugees, fleeing
the War of the Castes in Mexico. These refugees crossed into the
northern area of Belize and for a time caused a dramatic imbalance in
the racial composition of the population. In 1861, the composition
of the population was as follows:

. the Spanish-speaking white and mestizo community

accounted for 37% of the population, and the Amerindian
for 18%, as against only 32% mustered by the previously
dominant English-speaking white, colored and Negro
groups, and the Caribs 9%.15

However the Creoles (blacks and colored persons) later regained

numerical preponderance as immigration from Mexico decreased.

 

13Great Britain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Report of
the British Guiana and British Honduras Settlement Commission (London:
His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1948), p. 217.

1"Waddell, p. 17.

151bid., p. 18.

14

In 1865, 474 Chinese laborers including 35 women and children,
were brought to Belize to work on the sugar plantations which had
recently been established. Of this group some died and others deserted
the estates to join the Santa Cruz Indians. The following year it is
reported that about 3,000 more Chinese arrived, but it appears that
most of these must have returned to their homes when their indenture
expired. That conclusion is drawn from the 1871 census which reported
only 133 persons whose birthplace was China.16

During the rest of the nineteenth century there was a constant
trickle of immigrants from various parts of the world. About 1870, a
small group of Americans from the southern confederate states migrated
to the Toledo District in Belize. These people evidently decided that
they preferred to leave the United States after the Confederates lost
the Civil War. In 1872, East Indian indentured labor was brought to
the country from India. With the abolition of slavery, the-indenture
was a form of economic bondage which was designed to achieve the same
result as slavery, i.e., cheap bonded labor.

As indicated in Tables 3 and 4, the bulk of the immigrants
(i.e., foreign born) were from Jamaica and the Central American States.
The nature of ethnicity in Belize is far beyond what one might expect
from a country of such small size and population. The ethnic compo-

sition of the population as reported in the population census of 1946

and 1970 can be seen in Table 5.

 

16Great Britain, Report of the British Guiana and British
Honduras Settlement Commission, p. 219.

 

 

IS

 

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16

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17

TABLE 5

ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION OF BELIZE, 1946 AND 1970

 

 

Percent of Total

 

 

 

 

Population Populationa

Ethnic Origin 1946 1970 1946 1970
Negro/Black 22,693 36,921 38.3 30.8
East Indian 1,366 2,695 2.3 2.2
Chinese 50 204 0.1 0.2
Amerindian 10,030 22,390 16.9 18.7
Portuguese -- ll -- --
Syrian/Lebanese 128 169 0.2 0.1
White 2,329 4,463 3.9 3.7
Mixed 18,360 39,319 31.0 32.8
Other Races 4,112 13,697 6.9 11.4
Not stated 152 65 0.3' -—

Total 59,220 119,934 100.0 100.0

 

Source: Census Research Programme, Population Census of the
Commonwealth Caribbean, 1960 and 1970 (Mona, Jamaica,
W.I.: University of the West Indies, 1965 and 1973).

 

 

aPercentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

18

In comparison to the former British colonies in the Caribbean,
the settlement history of Belize has resulted in a high degree of ethnic
heterogeneity in the country. This has led to an unusual linguistic
differentiation and although English is the official language, Spanish
is widely spoken and in addition one may hear German, Arabic and Chinese
also in use. Local idioms also used in everyday communication are
Creole (3 form of broken English), Carib (spoken by the Caribs),

and Maya (spoken by the Maya Indians).

Overview of the Economy of Belize

 

In 1953 Carey Jones, a former Colonial Service official writing
about Belize remarked in his book,

The colony is suggestive of medieval Europe when it,

too, was thinly populated and largely forest, with settle-
ments in clearings, communication by horse and mule, wooden
towns and a busy city before industrialization had come.
Belize itself presents more parallels, with its merchants and
craftsmen, sailing boats moored at the riverside, its
dependence upon rainwater.

While Belize in 1953 as seen by Jones may have been suggestive
of medieval Europe, he fails to point out that those were the conditions
after more than 80 years of colonial rule since the country was offi-
cially declared a British colony in 1871. What is even more distressing
is that the country could be described in those terms after more than

300 years of British occupation and economic exploitation, since the

origin of British settlement in Belize goes back to 1648.

 

17N. S. Carey Jones, The Pattern of a Dependent Economy: The
National Income of British Honduras (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1953), p. 108.

 

 

19

The important point to recognize in looking at the economy of
Belize is that from the beginning and throughout the period of British
colonization the impetus behind the British presence was purely economic
and exploitative in nature. The "civilising mission" theory has long
since been discredited, moreover in Belize there was no large indigenous
population to "civilize." The indigenous Indians lived in the hinter-
land of the country while the British settled the coast, importing
African slaves in the absence of available indigenous labor.

The early economic history of Belize was dominated not by sugar
as in the case of practically all the other British Caribbean terri-
tories, but by timber, mainly logwood. According to Gregg, "in the
eighteenth century logwood fetched the fabulous price of'£100 per

ton."18

Logwood was used to produce a dye for dyeing textiles and
at £100 per ton was clearly a very lucrative export product for the
British in Belize.

However the logwood industry gradually declined with the
development of aniline dyes in the nineteenth century and this led
to mahogany, another forest product, rapidly increasing in importance.
Mahogany became the mainstay of the Belizean economy for the next 150
years. It was generally exported in the form of "whole logs" and was

used mainly in the manufacture of furniture in Britain. This has led

Lewis to remark,

 

18A. R. Gregg, British Honduras (London: Her Majesty‘s
Stationery Office, 1968), p. 3.

20

The social satirist of colonialism would see nothing
but ludicrous comedy in the spectacle of an entire colonial
society depending for its daily existence upon the Victorian
passion for the mahogany bed.1
The economy of Belize therefore developed as a mono-economy
dependent mainly on forest products. The extraction of chicle latex
(used in making chewing gum) from the sapodilla tree was secondary to
mahogany in terms of its export value. Due to the nature of the early
land tenure system in Belize the forestry interests were able to main-
tain monopoly control over the land, labor (slave labor) and the polit-
ical system. This led to the effective exclusion of land use for any
other purpose such as agriculture on a large scale, thus allowing

Lewis to characterize the early economy of Belize as:

. . the peculiar Honduran economy of extremely profitable

exploitation of the forest industries . . . along with the
concomitant features of a high wage structure and negative
social attitudes towards agriculture. . . .20

With indiscriminate exploitation and the absence of any
systematic forestry regeneration program, the forestry boom had to
come to an end sometime. That decline began shortly after World War II,
and in order to augment export values, instead of exporting whole logs,
such logs were cut into lumber, the latter bringing in a higher price
on the export market. Therefore while the value of lumber exports was
maintained, there was a constant decline in the quantity of forest

products, i.e., mahogany and pine.

 

19Gordon K. Lewis, The Growth of the Modern West Indies (London:
MacGibbon G Kee, 1968), p. 294.

2°Ibid., p. 291.

21

In 1950 forest products, including chicle accounted for
85 percent of all exports, but this had fallen to 50.5 percent by
1958.21 In 1959, the combined output of sugar and citrus exceeded
timber for the first time and that trend has continued. Table 6 gives
an indication of the rise of sugar and citrus.and the fall of timber and
chicle respectively as export products.

Since the early 19505 the production of sugar and citrus fruit
has expanded tremendously, filling the gap created by the declining
forestry industry. The expansion of these two industries has resulted
in a rising GNP at the rate of approximately 8 percent per annum.22
Therefore the phenomenal increase in the total value of sugar and
citrus exports as a percentage of total domestic exports has resulted
in agricultural exports providing the main source of foreign exchange
earnings. Table 7 shows the increase in the value of sugar and citrus
exports as a percentage of domestic exports over the period 1965 to
1975.

As indicated in Table 7, the economy of Belize is predominantly
agricultural with a narrow range of agricultural exports. While the
output of sugar and citrus production has steadily increased, both
these products are subject to unpredictable price fluctuations on

the world market. In addition being agricultural products, they

 

21Waddell, p. 83.

2“Report of the Tripartite Economic Survey of British Honduras,
May, 1966." Issued by the Tri-nation Survey Team: Canada, United
Kingdom, and United States, 1966, p. 2.

22

TABLE 6

DOMESTIC EXPORTS 1950-1965 ('000 Belize $)
(MAIN COMMODITIES)

 

 

 

Timber Sugar Citrus Chicle
Year Value Value Value Value
1950 2,861 -- 543 1,002
1951 3,846 -- 731 950
1952 3,096 63 812 625
1953 4,337 126 849 766
1954 3,376 145 1,098 883
1955 4,427 334 935 575
1956 3,800 298 2,343 480
1957 3,996 1,176 1,345 314
1958 3,371 1,312 1,812 639
1959 3,418 2,243 1,898 562
1960 3,722 2,026 3,087 493
1961 2,370 4,022 3,470 435
1962 1,850 3,853 1,410 392
1963 2,704 5,125 3,849 236
1964 2,856 5,473 4,680 247
1965 2,065 4,831 3,813 133

 

Source: Norman Ashcraft, Colonialism and Underdevelopment: Processes
of Political Economic Change in British Honduras (New York:
Columbia University, Teachers College Press, 1973), p. 65.

 

 

23

TABLE 7

VALUE OF SUGAR AND CITRUS EXPORTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF
TOTAL DOMESTIC EXPORTS, 1965-1975
('000 Belize $)

 

 

 

(a) (b) (C) (b) + (C)
Total Domestic Total Sugar Total Citrus as Percentage
Year Exports Exports Exports of (a)
1965 15,217 4,831 3,813 56.8
1966 15,918 6,492 4,566 69.5
1967 16,351 8,019 3,551 70.7
1968 19,810 9,941 4,269 71.7
1969 20,858 9,589 4,329 66.7
1970 19,110 11,142 4,210 80.3
1971 24,726 12,241 3,661 64.3
1972 31,074 16,057 4,286 65.5
1973 42,170 20,842 4,565 60.2
1974 83,440 57,222 6,435 76.3
1975 102,858 79,444 6,053 83.1

 

Source: Government of Belize, Annual Abstract of Statistics, 1968,
1969, 1970-72, and 1975 (Belize: Government Printer); also
Central Planning Unit, Economic Survey, 1971 and 1974
(Belize: Government Printer, 1971 and 1974).

 

 

 

24

are also subject to the vagaries of the weather and with Belize being
in the hurricane zone, a severe hurricane could have devastating
effects on the country's main export crops.
Turning to other economic indicators, there has been an
inability of the economy to meet the demand for goods and services.
Trade statistics show that between 1960 and 1968,
imports increased by nearly 140 percent to £11m.,* while
exports increased by only about 60 percent to £6.3m. In
1966, 46.2 percent of imports came from the sterling area
and 40.8 percent from the dollar area.23
According to the budget speech of the Minister of Finance (who
is also the Premier of Belize) in presenting the budget for the fiscal
year 1976, paragraph 62, of that speech states:
Total merchandise trade of $209.0m. for 1974 increased
by $73.9m. or 55 percent over 1973. The value of exports
increased by 50 percent to $99.7m. compared with a rise of
33 percent in imports to $110.2m. With the rate of growth
of exports exceeding that of imports, the trade deficit
declined from $30.2m. in 1973 to $10.5m. in 1974.2“
However, the figures quoted by the Minister of Finance do not
agree with the data in two publications distributed by the Ministry of
Finance. Table 8 shows the visible balance of trade for the period

1971-1975. Although there have been fluctuations in the balance of

trade, the situation in 1975 does not indicate an improvement over

 

*£1 = $4.00 Belize currency during the period 1960-1968.

23The Financial Times, Belize (British Honduras) Financial Times

 

Survey (London: The Financial Times, 19 July 1969).

2"Budget speech of the Honourable George Cadle Price, Premier
and Minister of Finance, to the House of Representatives of Belize,
18 November 1975, p. 7, para. 62.

VISIBLE BALANCE OF TRADE FOR THE PERIOD 1971-1975
('000 Belize s)

25

TABLE 8

 

 

Re-

 

 

Total Total Domestic Visible Trade

Year Imports Exports Exports Exports Balance
1971 58,590 31,687 24,726 6,961 -26,903
1972 69,257 40,155 31,074 9,081 -29,102
1973 72,323 52,686 42,170 10,516 -19,637
1974 112,693 98,135 83,440 14,695 -l4,558
1975 157,999 129,500 102,858 26,642 -28,499
Source: Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979 (Belmopan,

the previous four years.

Belize:
p. 6.

 

Central Planning Unit, Government Printer, 1977),

The trade deficit has been partly offset by

'transfers,‘ the most important of which was overseas aid from Great

Britain.

According to the economic survey for 1974:

Other important contributions (to offset the trade deficit)

were the net receipts from the Tourism industry ($4.2m)
The latter consists

and remittances from abroad ($3.8m).

mainly of funds received by Belizeans from their relatives

residing and working in the U.S.A.25

expenditure for the period 1971-1975.

Plan 1977-1979:

 

p. 13.

 

Table 9 presents data on Central Government revenue and

According to the Development

25Central Planning Unit, Economic Survey Belize 1974 (Belmopan,
Belize, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, mimeographed, n.d.),

 

omN on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.. m~¢.m mm moo.- uhv.m mac.m~ Nmn.me nm~.w nwa.n ono.v~ ~wv.o~ nmn.om mna~
-- ma_.~ -a -- mee.~_ moe.e~ _e~.wm eom.~_ e~c.e ~_a.e mam.e~ oee.oe ekm_
t- cam vec.~ -- mam.m ohm.m_ NHm.o~ Gav.“ nnv.v on~.v mmo.- No~.nm mnmfi
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ems." -- -- -- mew.» -m.om nem.m~ mme.n ~wo.e eko.e nmm.» k~_.- use”
«Hugues msfimusw “muwnno vw< gmumamu acouusuoz “much osco>c¢ vw< :OMHaxmh. unfiuxm Hench use»
362 new :mwouom umsuo cadence woonwa use
moan—mm ~a===< coflumuwgwnwcom osco>om mEOHmau
casewuusz
osco>om
ohsuwvconxm

 

 

 

A» esmaem =oe.~

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m m4m<h

27

Although there were increasing surpluses on the
recurrent budget in every year except 1971, there is
need to have larger surpluses to finance the new Plan
and the higher level of expenditure which will occur
from its implementation.26
Despite the fact that since 1972, government has been able
to meet its annually recurrent expenditure totally from local revenue,
the surplus which is then available for capital expenditure is quite
small. This means that it is still necessary to rely on foreign aid
from various sources in the form of grants and loans in order to carry
out vital capital development projects.
In the final analysis Belize is a country which has only
recently begun to develop. With the high rate of population growth,
it is not yet faced with the prospect of too many people and too few
resources which is the dismal situation facing many developing countries
today. At the end of 1975 GDP at factor costs was "estimated to be over
$130 million (Belizean) at current prices with a per capita income of
$1,000 ($1.00 Bze = $0.50 0.5.)."27
Per capita income in Belize compares favorably with its

neighbors in Central America and in addition we find that the literacy

rate is extremely high at "over 93 percent."28

 

26Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 9.

 

27Government of Belize, Belize New Nation in Central America,

 

p. 18.

28Ibid., p. 18.

28

Summary

The main purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the
major issues pertinent to the development of an industrial labor force
in Belize. Small in land area and sparsely populated, climatically the
country is a tropical paradise. The population is mainly of African
and Afro-European origin with a large proportion being indigenous Maya
Indians. Other ethnic groups are Caribs, Mestizo (Spanish-Maya),
Europeans and Asiatics (Arab, East Indian, Chinese).

The economy of Belize is predominantly agricultural, based
mainly on exports of sugar and citrus products. Agriculture has
replaced the dependence on the forest industry (mainly timber) which
was the mainstay of the country's economy since the inception of the
settlement of Belize. In order to move away from dependence on a
narrow range of agricultural production, there are plans to diversify
the agricultural sector, and greatly expand industrial production both
in agriculture and manufacturing, as far as the latter is feasible.

The main objective is to produce sufficient food to meet the
domestic demand and a surplus for the export market. Plans also call
for increased industrial production of some consumer goods to reduce
the adverse trade balance and also to encourage production for the

export market, mainly in the Caribbean area.

CHAPTER II

THE NATURE OF THE LABOR FORCE

One of the most important factors required for the development
of industrial output is labor. In developing countries certain diffi-
culties encountered in the process of industrialization pertain to the
characteristics of the labor force. The nature of those characteristics
may be qualitative--i.e., the level of education and skill, its adapta-
tion to new techniques and the degree of absenteeism and labor turnover.
On the quantitative side, we may determine the size of the available
labor supply, size of the 'labor force' age group in relation to the
total population and the age/sex composition of the labor force. At
the outset it is clear from the available data that the IeVels of
education and skill in developing countries are much lower than
those in the industrialized countries.

In this chapter an analysis of the characteristics mentioned
above, as they directly relate to the process of industrialization,
will be undertaken. Such an analysis is necessary in order to determine
what are the problems facing Belize in the process of implementing a
policy of industrialization, and development of a viable strategy to

provide workers suited to the requirements of an industrial economy.

29

30

Certain traditional ideals could pose serious obstacles to the
system of incentives, discipline and mobility which are characteristic
of industrial employment. It has also been stated,

Even in areas where there are apparently no traditional
barriers the probability of successful economic development
programs is very small unless the quality of human resources
is greatly improved.1

In view of the above observation, it is important that human
resource development be taken into account when implementing any pro-
gram of industrialization. The quality of human resources must be
developed to provide the knowledge, skills and incentives demanded
by a progressive economy. As Harbison has pointed out:

A strategy for development of human resources--i.e.,

the building and effective utilisation of the skills of
people--is an essential element of any modern development
strategy. . . . And it is essential for politicians and
planners to understand that the development of human and
physical resources must be integrated in any master plan
for growth.2

Maximum utilization of the country's human resources could help to

improve the standard of living and enhance the success of a program

of industrialization.

 

1Theodore W. Schultz, The Economic Test in Latin America,
Bulletin 35 (Ithaca, N.Y.: New York State School of Industrial and
Labor Relations, Cornell University, 1956), p. 22.

2Frederick H. Harbison, "Human Resources Development Planning
in Modernising Economies," International Labor Review 85:5 (May 1962):
2.

 

31

The Institutional Ties of the Worker
to the Traditional Society

 

 

The Family

A major difference between the modern western societies and the
developing countries has been the family structure. It is said that,
"despite the onslaughts of modernization, the extended family structure
remains a more universal social institution than the western-style

"3 Therefore in a process of industrialization that

nuclear family.
observation would indicate a bond whereby the old family structure
ties the worker to the traditional society.

According to the extended family system, the obligations of
the worker to the joint family could be quite extensive. Members of
the group are expected to contribute the greater part of the 'fruits
of their labor' for distribution among the group, and these obligations
are usually reinforced by strong social sanctions. In return the
worker is guaranteed a certain degree of security by the group,
especially during periods of inability to work or later on in
old age.

Because of the necessity to pool and/or distribute the product
of one's labor among the members of the extended family, it is felt

that the individual may have less incentive to produce, than if one

was allowed to retain all the proceeds. However, according to Moore,

 

3Jean L. Comhaire, "Economic Change and the Extended Family,"
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 305
(May 1956): 45.

32

In many cases where the worker has left the traditional
society for industrial employment he has been forced out by
the mounting forces of rural overcrowding and poverty rather
than pulled by the positive inducements of the industrial
sector.”

In Belize, Ashcraft found that in the rural areas, "the nuclear
type household (a man, his mate and her children) prevails"s The
decision to set-up a separate household can be implemented with
relative ease in rural areas. Houses can be constructed quite
easily of palm thatch or other building material easily available
from the surrounding forest. The real cost of a house is usually
the labor of the builder.

Ashcraft points out,

Each household asserts its independence through its

own exclusive income-producing efforts; other activities
can be shared, but not the means of getting an income.
Some farmers hire neighbors to help cut and clear a pros-
pective rice field or even a house site. The wage is paid
either on a daily or task basis. . . . Payment is in cash:
there is no thought of share cropping.6 -

In the rural setting the male is expected to provide for his
mate; that is important because his success in coping with that expec-

tation is generally vital in keeping the family unit together. The

main source of wage income is from casual labor and the men usually

 

l'Wilbert E. Moore, Industrialization and Labor (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 1951), pp. 48-55.

sNorman Ashcraft, "Some Aspects of Domestic Organization in
British Honduras," in The Family in the Caribbean, ed. Stanford N.
Gerber (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, University of Puerto Rico, 1968),
p. 65.

6Norman Ashcraft, Colonialism and Underdevelopment: Processes
of Political Economic Change in British Honduras, p. 96.

33

have to leave the rural areas to obtain such employment. Therefore
once the crops have been harvested, the men seek employment outside
the rural area returning in time for the next planting season. While
they are gone, the women take care of the family's chickens, turkeys
and pigs which can be sold in the urban areas, generally bringing in
a fair amount of cash to supplement the family's income.

There is scarcely any wage employment for women in the rural
areas. Whatever income is earned by such women depends on their
enterprising nature and an eye for seizing the opportunity to make
a quick cash income, e.g., preparing food for sale at village fairs
or sporting events. However, in recent years, this situation has been
changing through the efforts of the government's Social Development
Department. Women are now being taught to prepare food preserves,
weaving and other types of handicraft work. Such products can be
sold in the urban areas, giving women a cash income and an escape
from an otherwise total dependence on the male head of the household.

The situation in the urban areas is much more complex and the
social and economic status has a direct influence on the nature of the
family setting. While the nuclear family also predominates, there are
instances of what could be described as quasi-extended family relation-
ships. The reason for describing the relationship as quasi-extended is
to dispel certain references to the extended family as entailing:

. . hospitality on a lavish scale to family members
and the indiscriminate maintenance of distant relatives.

Property and income are pooled and inherited as such; and
expenditure is not accounted for individually.7

 

7B. W. Hodder, Economic Development in the Tropics (London:
Methuen 8 Co., Ltd., 1973), p. 50.

 

34

It is very doubtful if that description of the extended family
would accurately describe the family anywhere in Belize. Baur and
Yamey have pointed out that that type of extended family:

. acts as a serious obstacle to economic progress.

A man is much less likely to be willing and able to rise

in the income scale, and to save and invest, when he knows

that should he succeed in improving his position he would

have to maintain a large number of distant relatives.
Fortunately for Belize, despite a limited number of studies

on the nature of the family, there has been no indication that family

structure inhibits the attitude of the individual towards employment.

The Land

The attachment of a peasant to his land may reflect very strong
emotional as well as economic factors in the agrarian society. Accord-
ing to Kerr et a1. and Frost, if the peasant owns his plot, small though
it may be,it gives him the personal satisfaction of a concrete property
right and the security of being his own employer. In areas where the
peasant does not own the land, he still gains a great satisfaction from
the fact that agricultural employment is usually relatively self-
regulatory, as opposed to the more tightly disciplined regimen of
factory employment.9

Such ties to the land and the security of living in a familiar

agrarian environment, while maintaining the traditional relationships,

 

8Peter T. Baur and Basil S. Yamey, The Economics of Underdevel-
oped Countries (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957), p. 66.

 

 

9See Clark Kerr et al., Industrialism and Industrial Man
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960), pp. 82-83; and Raymond
Frost, The Backward Society (New York: St. Martins Press, 1961),
pp. 142-143.

 

 

35

could clearly have serious implications for a policy of
industrialization. Most industries whether manufacturing or
agricultural, require a disciplined approach to the_employment
relationship. The job is specified, wages are set prior to completion
of the task and the individual is required to work a certain number of
hours each day.

While there is evidence from many developing societies to
support the findings of Kerr et al. quoted above, those findings would
not accurately reflect the situation in Belize. Due to the nature of
the early economy of Belize, based on the timber industry, peasant
agriculture or cultivation of the land in general was regarded as:

an occupation reserved for the Maya and Caribs and
at one time a ban was put upon other workers engaging in
cultivation, primarily with a view to the maintenance of
an adequate labor supply for the lumbering camps.10

Therefore except for the indigenous Maya and to some extent
the Caribs, the Belizean did not develop such binding ties to the
land. Indeed, Ashcraft points out that, "Creole farmers who lived
as squatters along river banks in the central sections of the country
continued to work at forestry; during slack periods and market slumps
they turned to the land."11 Romney writing in 1959 stated that, "the

number of sincere and capable farmers attracted to the colony . . . was

small, and those who came soon found themselves opposed to the traders

 

1°Evans, p. 253.

11Ashcraft, Colonialism and Underdevelopment, p. 44.

 

36

who were both influential and ill-disposed to the appearance of local
farm produce."12

With the decline of the forest industries there was little
alternative but to turn to agriculture, and the latent interest of
the Belizean in the land was exemplified in the development of sub-
sistence farming in the rural areas. However a clear indication of
the Belizean's lack of interest in agricultural employment is exhibited
by the perennial failure of the sugar and citrus industries to obtain
sufficient labor to harvest the sugar cane and the citrus fruits
respectively. Despite indications of a relatively high unemployment
rate in the country, the shortage of labor in the sugar and citrus
industries has to be filled by employing migrant labor from neighboring
Mexico and Guatemala.

In Belize it would be true to say that the desire for land
ownership is strong, the subsistence farmer will not easily part with
his land. But there is little indication that the peasant has developed
an emotional attachment to the land which would seriously affect his
adaptation to the disciplined regimen of factory life.

Aronson in a study of labor commitment among Jamaican bauxite
workers found that, "a problem of labor commitment failed to material-

ize."13 Furthermore, Aronson indicated that:

 

12D. H. Romney, ed., Land in British Honduras, Report of the
British Honduras Land Use Survey Team (London: Colonial Research
Publications, No. 24, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1959), p. 117.

 

 

13Robert L. Aronson, Labor Commitment Among Jamaican Bauxite
Workers (Ithaca, N.Y.: New York State School of Industrial and Labor
Relations, Cornell University, Reprint Series #108, 1961), p. 180.

 

37

Even in the initial years of operation, a work force mainly
recruited from the local rural setting did not exhibit rates
and patterns of turn over, absenteeism, or discipline very
different from those that would be generally expected among
urban workers in industrially-advanced countries.‘“

The findings of Aronson's study are significant, although as
he points out, the results are based on the experience of a single
industry. As he observes,

Even though the tools of an advanced industrial economy do
not exist to a large extent in Jamaica, especially in the
rural sector, certain cultural barriers to industrialization
also do not exist. Jamaica shares with the highly industrial-
ized metropolitan power a common language, certain common
traditions and history, and a similar style of life. Con-
tinuous contact throughout most of its history with Great
Britain, as well as with North America, has undoubtedly kept

Jamaica abreast of social and economic change in those
countries, if not a full partner in the material advances.

15
That observation could well have been made with respect to the
situation in Belize, which has developed under similar circumstances.
Therefore one may anticipate that in Belize there should be little
tendency for the attachment to traditional agrarian social patterns

to serve as a constraint in the process of developing an industrial

labor force.

The Labor Force

 

In countries which are considered to be at an advanced stage
of industrialization one finds it relatively easy to deal with certain
terms relating to labor force activity. For example, the Bureau of

Labor Statistics in the United States of America has developed specific

 

'“Ibid., p. 180.

151bid., p. 181.

38

criteria to define terms such as employment, unemployment, unemployment
'rate, not in labor force and labor force.

Despite those definitions, Marshall et al.have pointed out
that there is considerable dissatisfaction with the conventional
definition of unemployment. They go on to state,

By counting only those who actively seek work . . . a
group of "hidden unemployed" is created, jobless persons
who fail to satisfy the technical requirements of the
census definition but who nevertheless desire work.16

When dealing with the measurement of labor force data in
developing countries, the difficulties become more complicated than
a controversy over definition of terms. One of the more serious
obstacles is usually the inadequacy or absence of basic statistical
data, the availability of which is taken for granted in the more
industrialized countries. There are large sectors of the economies
of many developing countries which are not fully drawn into the money
and exchange system, making it difficult to enumerate the gainfully
employed.

Subsistence agriculture and other types of farming make
varying demands on labor, while part-time and seasonal employment
complicate the definition and measurement of the employed labor force.

In this respect Belize is not different from most developing countries

and there is a general absence of labor force data.

 

16F. Ray Marshall, Allan M. Cartter, and Allan 0. King, Labor
Economics, Wages, Employment, and Trade Unionism (Homewood, 111.:
Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1976), pp. 181-182.

39

The agency which is charged with the responsibility for
collecting labor force statistics in Belize is the Labor Department.
According to the Labor Ordinance in British Honduras, No. 15 of 1959:

4. It shall be the duty of the Labor Commissioner subject
to the direction of the Minister .

d. to collect, analyse and publish statistics and
general information in respect of:

1. employment and unemployment;

ii. wage rates and earnings;

iii. employment of women, children and young persons;

iv. price indices; 17
However the Labor Department in Belize has not published any statistics
on employment or unemployment in recent years, and according to the
Department's Annual Report for 1974 (the latest available), "no accurate
figures relating to unemployment are available."18 That would seem to
imply that current employment figures are also unknown, which is not
surprising,as this researcher worked for the Labor Department for some
years prior to 1974 and during that period, employment and unemployment
data were not collected. The facts are that the Department does not
have the staff nor the expertise to collect and analyze such data.

In 1964 the government of Belize, clearly in recognition of

the absence of even basic manpower data, requested the assistance of
the International Labor Organization (ILO) in conducting a 'study of

the manpower situation in Belize.‘ An ILO 'expert' was sent to Belize

in February of 1964 and he spent the balance of the year collecting

 

17The Labor Ordinance, No. 15 of 1959, The Legislature of British
Honduras (Belize), 31 December 1959, p. 122.

 

18Labor Department, Belize, Annual Report of the Labor Department
for the Year 1974 (Belmopan, Belize: The Government Printer, 1975),
p. 4.

 

40

data which resulted in the publication of a document in two volumes
called a 'Manpower Assessment Report, British Honduras 1964.‘

The Manpower Assessment Report contains useful labor force
data, but as the report points out, the prime objective of that study
was:

. . . exposing the factual position of the manpower sit-
uation without any attempt to identify future employment
objectives, make recommendations and suggestions for
resolving imbalances of the manpower situation or to
make suggestions for manpower planning.

The work of the 'manpower expert' therefore fell short of part of the
objectives which the government expected from the study as stated by
the Minister of Labor in the foreword to the report:

In consequence of this request Mr. Osmond W. Francis of
India was deputed by the ILO to inter alia advise and
assist us in:--

a. Making an appraisal of the current and likely
future manpower situation, both quantitatively
and qualitatively.

b. Formulating employment policy objectives and
advising on programmes to attain these objectives.

c. Analysing the changes necessary in the educational
and training systems to meet the requirements for
skilled manpower.

d. Organising a comprehensive continuing manpower
assessment and planning programme and helping
train nationals to carry out this programme.2

In addition the Minister stated that:
This government realised from the inception the importance

of training nationals and accordingly assigned a counterpart
to assist and understudy the Expert so that the Manpower

 

19Labor Department, Belize, Manpower Assessment Report, British
Honduras 1964 (Belize City, Belize: The Government Printer, 1964),

p. l.

 

 

2°1bid., p. i.

41

Programme may not only be firmly established, but continued
effectively after the departure of the expert.21

The collection and analysis of manpower data did not continue after
the departure of the 'expert' and to date no other report or study
has been published. The reasons for the failure to continue the
collection of manpower data are beyond the scope of this study, but
it is remarkable, to say the least, that economic planning has been
attempted in the absence of basic data relating to the labor force
(employment and unemployment). That may not be so remarkable con-
sidering that according to the Development Plan 1964-1970, it is
proposed to promote the establishment of certain industries listed
in Chapter 6 of the Plan, and over the period of the Plan, the total
number of jobs to be created would only be 938, i.e., in the private
sector.22
From the data on the number of pupils who sat the Primary
School Leaving Certificate Examination between 1964-1970 (the period
of the Plan), the total number of pupils sitting the examination was
14,592; of that figure 7,055 passed the examination. Statistics from
the Ministry of Education, indicate that 40 percent of the pupils
leaving the Primary Schools enter High Schools; which would take care
of 2,822 leaving a balance of 4,233 Primary School leavers available
for the labor market. In addition,<xfthe 7,537 who failed the exam-

ination, one could easily estimate that the majority of those would

 

2'Ibid., p. ii.

22Government of Belize, Development Plan 1964-1970, p. 70.

 

42

leave school, thus adding to the total amount available for the
labor market.

In fairness to the Development Plan it should be mentioned
that there are provisions for a number of Public Service jobs. But
those jobs usually require candidates with a high school education
or higher qualification. The above information points out the inade-
quacy of the Development Plan as far as use of the country's human
resources is concerned.

The Manpower Report of 1964 provides a convenient point from
which to begin the study of the labor force. Although in the first
instance it will be necessary to define the term 'labor force' in
the context of Belize as a developing country.

The labor force may consist of those persons who are, or would
like to be engaged in economically productive activities. However in
Belize there is a large element of part-time or seasonal employment
and this tends to complicate the definition and measurement of the
employed labor force. As one ILO study indicated:

it is important to recognize that the distinction
between members of the labor force and dependents is not
at all clear in most parts of most developing countries.
This is particularly true in many rural areas where men,
women and children above a fairly young age may all
devote part of their time to productive activities.23

That study goes on to point out that if the concept of the labor force

is not well adapted to analyzing social realities in the developing

’

 

23J. Mouly and E. Costa, Employment Policies in Developing
Countries (London: George Allen 8 Unwin Ltd., 1974), p. 30.

43

countries, this may be equally true of the concept of unemployment.2“
Therefore, since a person can only be unemployed by being a member of
the labor force, and if it is not clear who is or is not in the labor
force, then how do we determine who is unemployed?

In this connection another writer found that,

. in the complex and (to a foreigner) unfamiliar

economic and social structure of many under-developed
countries it may be difficult to appreciate the economic
contribution that an apparent idle or redundant individ-
ual may be making to the family or community of which he
is a member. 5

As far as Belize is concerned the only reliable labor force
data are contained in the 1960 and 1970 Population Census Reports.
This study will therefore draw upon those sources for statistics on
the labor force. In view of the controversy regarding a satisfactory
definition of the labor force in a developing country, that concept
should at this point be clarified.

In 1959, the Eight International Conference of Labor
Statisticians in an attempt to develop the international standardization
of labor statistics agreed on a definition that the labor force is made
up of persons over a specified age who are either employed or unemployed.
The employed covers persons at work and persons with a job but not at

work; while the unemployed are persons not in employment at the time

the labor force is measured, but are available for work and are seeking

 

2“11318., p. 31.

25 Baur and Yamey, p. 33.

44

work.26 It is on this basis that data from the Census Reports will be
analyzed in this study, notwithstanding the difficulties in the use of
labor force data, to which reference has previously been made.

Composition of the Labor Force
By Age and Sex

 

 

International statistics accepts fifteen to sixty-four years
as the working age limits although it is understood that participation
in economic activity may vary from country to country. That convention
particularly in respect to the lower age limit can be easily applied in
Belize since:
1. the law requires compulsory primary education between the age
of six and fourteen years, and pupils may attend primary
school up to the age of sixteen years; and
2. the Labor Ordinance prohibits the employment of a child, who
is defined as a person under the age of fourteen years;
although special regulations may be made to remove that
restriction in certain specific circumstances.
It is more difficult to conform to the upper age limit since in the
case of the government which is the largest single employer in the
country, the retirement age is fifty-five years. The private sector
has no specific age limit for retirement, although the prevailing age

is generally between sixty and sixty-five years. As both the 1960 and

 

26International Labor Office, International Standardisation of
Labor Statistics (Geneva: International Labor Organization, 1959),
pp. 44-45.

 

 

45

1970 population censuses considered detailed analysis of the labor
force in the fourteen years and above age group, this study will also
stay within that age limit.

Before looking at the labor force it would be useful to examine
the age and sex structure of the population as those are important
determinants of the characteristics of the labor force, especially
in a developing country. A widely used device for illustrating that
information is the age and sex pyramid which presents a graphic picture
so that the population structure can be easily interpreted. Such a
graph may be seen in Figure 2 comprising a central vertical scale of
age groupings, using five year groupings, the youngest, i.e., zero to
four years, being at the bottom. The percentage of each of these
groups in the entire population is then plotted on the horizontal
scale, males to the left and females to the right of the vertical
scale. By using percentages, the graph is more useful as proportions
and comparisons may be easily read off.

An obvious characteristic of the three graphs in Figure 2
is the broad base resulting from a high birth rate associated with
low death rates. But more interesting and important is the vivid
representation that while in 1946, 38.4 percent of the population
was under fifteen years of age, by 1970 that figure had increased
to 49.3 percent. Therefore by the 19805 when the bulk of these
children will have entered the reproductive period, the population
as a whole will be of unprecedented fecundity. As youth represents

such a high proportion of the population, that is an indication of

46

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47

the rather low expectation of life in Belize. In 1946, 3.6 percent

of the population was over sixty-five years of age and by 1970 it had
only risen to 4.3 percent. This information would imply that the rapid
fall in the crude death rate shown in Table 2 is more indicative of a
rapid decline in infant mortality rates than a general increase in

the expectation of life. But the life expectancy in Belize is
increasing and in the future we will undoubtedly see larger absolute
numbers reaching the top of the pyramid.

It is clear that youth is a prominent characteristic of the
population in Belize, yet we can also assume that those in the fourteen
years and under age group may hardly be classified as economically
active. The participation rates for that group are usually too low
to be of any real significance.

For the purpose of this study the labor force will be considered
as comprising those in the fifteen years and above age group, although
the 1970 population census includes the fourteen year olds within their
classification of the labor force. This researcher does not agree that
fourteen year olds should be classified as being in the labor force,
especially in view of the fact that recognized apprenticeship programs
are almost non-existent in Belize. In order to be employed in any
sector of the public service, one has to be eighteen years or older
and in the private sector most employers would not employ a fourteen
year old. Furthermore since there are no minimum wage regulations in
the private sector, it is quite likely that fourteen year olds would

be paid the lowest wage and may fall prey to unscrupulous employers.

48

In addition, the education laws require that children attend primary
school between the age of six and fourteen years. Thus there is little
doubt that persons below the age of fifteen years should not be regarded
as fully productive members of society.

Table 10 gives a breakdown of the total population and the
labor force by age and sex according to the 1970 population census.

If we calculate the working age population, i.e., those between fifteen
and sixty-four years we have a total of 55,624; while the total labor
force is only 31,544, leaving a balance of 24,080 persons of working
age who are outside of the labor force. In 1960, the proportion of
working age population was 51.2 percent but by 1970 that figure had
fallen by 4.8 percentage points to 46.4 percent. In comparison to

the world as a whole and other regions, it will be found that the
percentage of working age population (fifteen to sixty-four years)

to total population in 1975 was 58 percent (world) with Asia, Europe,
North America and Latin America showing percentages of 57, 64, 64, and
54 respectively.27 This would indicate a not too unfavorable position
in Belize as compared with Latin American countries.

From Table 10 a calculation of the labor force participation
rate which is the ratio of the labor force to the population in the
usual working age group (fifteen to sixty-four years) can also be made.
The labor force participation rate was 54.5 percent in 1960, increasing

to 56.7 percent by 1970. According to the 1964 Manpower Report the

 

27United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Demographic Yearbook 1976.

 

49

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50

male and female labor force participation rates were 91.3 and 19.5
percent respectively in 1960.28 By 1970 the male participation rate
had increased to 93.1 percent while the female rate was 20.4 percent.
The Manpower Report had projected no change in the female labor force
participation rate, and a fall of 2.5 percentage points by 1970 for the

9 The projected fall in the male participation

male participation rate.2
rate was attributed to the contemplated expansion in secondary education
and the general importance being given to formal education. It was
envisaged that those two factors would have the effect of keeping chil-
dren in the primary schools up to age fifteen and in secondary schools
up to age nineteen or twenty.

The data indicate that the anticipated changes did not occur
and instead there was a decline in the proportion of the population
of working age, with a slight increase in the overall labor force
participation rate. Of some significance from the data above is the
low female labor force participation rate, although it is not unusual
to find the number of women in the labor force in Belize is relatively
small in comparison to more highly industrialized countries. While
women make up a small percentage of the total labor force, there are
more women than men in the age group fifteen to sixty-four. As Belize

has a relatively small population, optimum use of all those in the

working age sector of the population is important. It is clear that

 

28Labor Department, Belize, Manpower Assessment Report, British
Honduras 1964, p. 17.

 

291bid., p. 17.

51

many more women could be brought into the labor force and this should
obviously be one of the goals of development planning.

One important factor to consider is that the physical strain of
many types of employment may not be conducive to female participation.
With industrialization and as more machinery is introduced to substitute
physical labor, there could certainly be an increase in the rate of
female participation in the labor force.

Fortunately for Belizean women, there are few if any cultural
taboos concerning the conduct of women which could be seen as exerting
social sanctions against female employment. Although jobs in certain
sectors of the economy have been considered the male's domain, there
is no reason why women with adequate training should not be able to

be employed in those sectors.

The System of Education

 

Education in Belize may be divided into three categories:
Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education. At the Primary level
according to the Department of Education:

. . . the aim is to ensure that all children of compulsory
school age receive a sound basic education which will pro-
vide the necessary foundation on which they can develop
their individual interests and abilities . . . so that
they may function meaningfully as citizens.3°

 

30Belize, Department of Education, Report of the Department
of Education for the School Years 1969/70, and 1970/71 (Belize: The
Government Printer), p. 1.

 

 

52

The report goes on to philosophize that primary education "is the
inherent right of every child and a fundamental ingredient for the
operation of a democratic society."31

Primary school education is compulsory from the age of six
through fourteen years, but children may be admitted to school at the
age of five years. With few exceptions most schools are all age schools
providing courses covering eight grades. There is no tuition charge for
attendance at the government or government-aided primary schools.

The primary schools are mainly of two types:

1. Government schools: These are fully owned and run by the
government (Ministry of Education).
2. Government-aided primary schools: These schools are owned

and managed by various religious denominations which receive

financial grants from the government for recurrent costs, the

the total costs of teachers' salaries and assistance towards

the maintenance of buildings, furniture and equipment. Gov-

ernment also meets the cost of 50 percent of all approved

building projects, in addition to providing some stationery

and other materials to the schools.
Very few private schools exist and they cater to a small number of
pupils. Such schools are not p0pu1ar in Belize because of the tuition

charged. Table 11 gives the number of pupils attending primary school

in Belize in 1970 through 1975 by age and sex.

 

31Ibid., p. 1.

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HM mam<k

54

While the primary schools are generally all-age schools, a
few have been organized into infant, middle and senior or upper schools.
In Belmopan, the new capital city which came into existence in 1970,
the schools are organized into infant, and junior after which pupils
enter the Comprehensive school. The latter type of school is new to
Belize and only one such school has been established, i.e., in the new
capital; it could well be called an experiment.

Patterned off the British Comprehensive school, it is intended
to provide for children of all ages (between eleven and eighteen), all
abilities, and of both sexes. But some observers have pointed out that.
”perhaps the basic aim of the comprehensive school is to assert the
equality of man, and then to admit to the validity of Haldane's title,
'The Inequality of Man.'"32 Comprehensive schooling emerged much
earlier in the United States than it did in Great Britain and one
writer has referred to American education as 'democratic' and that
in Britain as 'elitist.‘33 While there is much merit in the compre-
hensive system of education there were many political and social class
ramifications which led to its introduction in Britain. In addition,
it should be recognized that the comprehensive school should not be
a social experiment, instead it should be education reform.

Developing countries such as Belize should therefore evaluate

the implications of 'going comprehensive,‘ especially in the light of

 

32National Association of Schoolmasters, The Comprehensive School

 

(England: National Association of Schoolmasters, 1964), p. 14.

3“‘Paul Bellaby, The Sociology of Comprehensive Schoolipg
(London: Methuen 8 Co., Ltd., 1977), p. 40.

55

the current shortage of adequately qualified teachers at the primary
and secondary levels.

Secondary education at the private high schools managed by the
religious denominations is not free. Students are required to pay a
monthly fee covering tuition. The cost of books and other incidentals
are additional costs to the student. Government does offer a small
number of scholarships to these institutions which are generally
tuition scholarships. The Belize Technical College and two Junior
Secondary Schools in Belize City are government institutions. The
former offers a number of free places to students each year, while
there is no tuition fee for attending the Junior Secondary Schools.

There were 21 secondary schools in 1977, of which 4 were
fully managed by government. The other 17 were all private secondary

3“ Each approved

schools and 16 were managed by religious bodies.
denominational secondary school receives a basic grant of Bze $14,000
per annum and an additional per capita grant of Bze $160 for each
student over 100. In addition they receive an annual facilities
grant of between Bze $2,500 and Bze $5,000 depending on the size of
the institution; and a staffing grant of Bze $2,000 per graduate
(instructor) per year.35

Table 12 shows data on the secondary school population by

age and sex for the period 1970 through 1975. It is interesting to

 

3L'Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 55.

 

35Government of Belize, Belize New Nation in Central America,
p. 27.

 

56

TABLE

12

SECONDARY EDUCATION SCHOOL POPULATION BY AGE AND SEX, 1970-1974

 

 

Age in Years

 

 

 

20 and
Year Sex 11 12 l3 14 15 l6 17 18 19 Over Total
1970 M 5 29 134 306 408 321 282 180 83 48 1,796
F l 33 171 376 414 380 199 169 77 31 1,851
1971 M 8 83 152 316 463 354 300 171 116 33 1,946
F 11 88 225 453 480 424 300 142 67 26 2,216
1972 M 2 50 196 367 430 399 344 199 85 41 2,113
F 5 79 253 497 493 485 305 176 71 25 2,389
1973 M l 40 173 373 397 399 324 234 115 50 2,105
F -— 52 240 449 505 484 358 247 92 50 2,477
1974 M 2 44 201 442 463 356 328 204 108 44 2,192
F 2 52 234 502 549 472 353 198 89 , 38 2,489
Source: Central Planning Unit, Abstract of Statistics, 1970-1972,

 

vol. 2, and 1975 Supplement (Belmopan, Belize:

Printer.

 

The Government

57

note that between the ages of eleven through sixteen there are more
females than males attending secondary school and although that figure
declines from age seventeen through twenty, overall there are more
females than males attending high school.

Belizeans who wish to attend university must now do so abroad
as there is no local university. The university of West Indies has
been established as a regional institution and Belize by virtue of
its financial contribution to that body and its representation on the
Council of the University has access to all facilities and programs
of the university. The majority of students from Belize who pursue
university courses do so at one of the campuses of the University of
the West Indies, located either in Jamaica, Barbados or Trinidad.

In 1976, a University Center was established in Belize and
according to the 1977-1979 Development Plan,

this Center will provide some of the training which

Belizeans now go abroad to undergo; will carry out

research into some of the problems of the country and

make the role of the university much more meaningful

in Belize.36
The University Center is a welcome addition to the educational facil-
ities in the country and has great potential for the improvement of
education in Belize. But, there is no indication in the Development
Plan of how the Center will meet the stated objectives. There is no
financial allocation for the Center mentioned in the Plan nor is there

any indication that the University of West Indies will increase its

financial allocation to the Center in order for it to carry out the

 

36Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 57.

 

58

programs anticipated in the Development Plan. With the current staff
of two (a resident tutor and a secretary) one would not expect that
the institution would be any more meaningful to Belizeans than the
Extra-Mural Department of the University in Belize, which it has

absorbed.

Vocational Education

 

Vocational education was not included as one of the three main
categories in the system of education since it is not exactly in a
category by itself. Vocational education in Belize is provided mainly
for primary school leavers who do not go on to any type of secondary
education. The Belize Vocational Training Center provides basic craft
training in five fields viz., carpentry, plumbing, masonry, electrical
wiring and auto mechanics, for approximately 65 boys each year.

Originally the Center was intended to provide craft training
not only to primary school leavers but also to adults, asia means of
improving their skill level. The latter goal has not been achieved
and in fact the school has expanded little since its inception. In
1964, the enrollment was 62 pupils and by 1977 that number had
increased to only 70.

Vocational training in Belize has not been an effective means
of increasing the skill level of adult workers or developing new skills
in primary school leavers. One reason is that government has not been
able to pinpoint areas in which certain skills are in short supply due

to an absence of manpower data. In effect the Vocational Training

59

Center has been graduating students with basic skills in carpentry,
plumbing, etc., but they have been unable to obtain jobs. Difficulty
in job placement also arises because employers feel that after one
year of training at the Vocational Training Center the graduates have
not achieved journeyman's standard in their trade. The Center has not
developed a certification examination which would signify a recognizable
standard of achievement in the various skills being taught.

Government has not given vocational education the importance
it deserves in the educational system of the country. The Belize
Vocational Training Center was originally designed to have five
buildings, each containing a workshop and classrooms for each
subject taught at the Center.

Instead, only one of those buildings was constructed and all
five workshops and classrooms were literally 'crammed' in a building
designed for one workshop. The building is totally inadequate for the
purpose for which it is being used and this results in an environment

which is not conducive to good education.

Administration

 

Ultimate responsibility for education lies with the Minister of
Education. As the head of the Ministry of Education he is responsible
for initiating policy and his adviser and chief executive, the Permanent
Secretary has the responsibility for ensuring the implementation of
educational policy. The Chief Education Officer is also the Minister's

adviser but, 'on professional matters,' and he is the head of the

60

Department of Education. In addition his main responsibility, under
the law is the administration of the educational system.
At the primary level:
Immediate control and administration of the schools
is vested by law in the denominational managing authorities.
Even where the law gives the Ministry or the Department
authority in certain matters these powers are exercised
with diffidence and sometimes not at all. Dual control
is deep-rooted in the history of the developing educational
system, in the minds of the teaching profession and the
people at large.37
The unholy alliance between church and state in the admin-
istration of the educational system at both the primary and secondary
level is in need of serious evaluation. The country is undoubtedly
indebted to the religious denominations for their pioneering efforts
in the field of education in Belize. Those efforts have allowed the
people to have the highest rate of functional literacy at over 93
percent,38 among all the countries in Central America and higher
than most of those throughout the rest of Latin America.
While past achievements are appreciated, education for
accelerated national development should be linked to the developmental
needs of the country. The goals of the churches which own and run the

schools are clearly different from the needs of the government which

meets the greater portion of the costs of those schools, and relies

 

37United Nations, UNESCO, Rgport of the Educational Planning
Mission to British Honduras (Paris: UNESCO, 1964), Appendix D, p. 17.

 

38Government of Belize, Belize New Nation in Central America,
p. 18.

61

on their output to satisfy the manpower requirements of its development
programs.

One of the most serious problems arising out of the church-state
educational relationship is fragmentation of the education effort. Each
denomination wishes to have its own school in various localities
although the population of children may be barely sufficient to justify
only one school. Government's attitude to such fragmentation has been
passive even in the light of glaring examples of fragmentation and
duplication.

The government states that its policy is,

to support and encourage educational progress in
plans devised and set in operation by the private insti-
tutions existing in the country--this is a good thing,
especially under the present circumstances where
government has limited resources.39

It is difficult to understand why a government which seems to
have a chronic disease called 'limited resources' is prepared to expend
those resources in a manner which could not be classified as prudent.
The UNESCO Report has pointed out,

It behooves the country seeking fulfillment of economic
and social goals with limited resources to give the
quality and quantity of education in all the levels

and ramifications consistent with those goals. The
more glaring examples of fragmentation, duplication

and over-lap need to be eliminated if the combined

resources are to be successfully and economically
deployed and applied."0

 

39See Peoples United Party, "Manifesto for Belizean Progress"
(unpublished,mimeographed, Premier's Office, Belize, n.d.).

1“’United Nations, UNESCO, p. 15.

62

That statement is valid both at the primary and secondary levels

of education in Belize.

Summary

The successful development of an industrial labor force
will depend upon certain characteristics of the existing labor force.
Variables such as education and skill level, size of the labor force
and its age/sex composition must be taken into account in developing
an industrial labor force.

In Belize there are also certain cultural barriers such as
the family structure and traditional ties to the land which could affect
the implementation of a successful program of industrialization. But
as this study has indicated those two factors would not have any
serious inhibiting effect on the plan for industrialization.

It is no easy task to determine the labor force in a developing
country and Belize is no exception. The subsistence nature of obtaining
a livelihood on the part of most people in the rural areas and the
general absence of statistical data combine to present a perplexing
task to the researcher. By accepting the ILO's definition of labor
force, this study was able to make use of data from internationally
published sources to supplement that available from government and
other sources in Belize.

The composition of the labor force in Belize is not unlike
that in many developing countries, with a very high male participation
rate and low female participation rate. The imbalance in the partici-
pation rates results mainly from the fact that industrial employment

in Belize is currently very limited. Most employment is of a manual

63

nature and require physical brawn, thus being unsuitable for most
women. Yet there are few, if any, cultural factors which would
prevent women from increasing their participation in the labor
force and this should be encouraged.

The system of education is divided mainly into primary,
secondary and higher education. Primary education is free and
compulsory for all children from ages six through fourteen years.
Secondary education starts mainly at age eleven or twelve and goes
on through age sixteen to seventeen. Higher education goes on from
age sixteen onwards. Secondary education in Belize is not free and
most students must pay all the costs of attending a secondary school.
The government offers a few scholarships which mainly provide for the
payment of tuition. There is no university located in Belize, and
Belizeans must go abroad to obtain university education.

The Ministry of Education while responsible for the country's
education policy is somewhat handicapped in implementing that policy
due to the nature of the system of education at the primary and sec-
ondary level. At the primary and secondary levels the majority of the
schools are under the management of religious denominations with gov-
ernment meeting certain costs. Complications therefore arise as the
goals of the church and those of the state do not usually coincide.

Vocational education which has an important role to play in
the overall development of human resources has been seriously neglected
in Belize. One can only hope that the value of vocational education
will be recognized and that adequate funds will be provided to improve

the quality of education available at vocational training centers.

CHAPTER III

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

Development P1annipg

 

National development planning is a relatively new phenomenon
particularly in the developing countries. Planning strategies and the
planning system varies in the light of specific conditions, economic,
social and political, in the various countries. Many countries which
have adopted national development planning as a strategy for improving
economic and social conditions have been influenced by the example and
experience of the socialist countries. As Gunnar Myrdal has pointed
out:

That the ideological influences from the Communist world
have been strong is quite apparent. Very generally, but
particularly in India, Burma, and Indonesia, the intel-
lectual and political leaders had received strong impulses
from the Russian revolution. . . . The five year plans of
the Soviet Union were recognized as the pioneering attempt
of an underdeveloped country to engender economic develop-
ment by state planning, and have been a decisive influence,
which has not spent its force.1

But evidence of the effectiveness of development planning also
came from the western industrialized countries. During World War II

the western allies used physical planning to ensure that scarce mate-

rials went to priority production. After the end of the war many of

 

1Gunnar Myrdal, Asian Drama, vol. 2 (New York: Pantheon,
1968), pp. 726-727.

 

64

65

those countries found it necessary to retain such wartime planning
measures. Countries participating in the Marshall Plan for the
reconstruction of Western Europe were required to prepare comprehensive
plans, which the United States considered necessary, prior to providing
aid for the reconstruction program.

Since the 19505 the World Bank has also been effective in
accelerating national development planning in some countries. Many
of its survey missions have recommended the establishment of planning
agencies, and in general, aid for developing countries from the Bank
is usually tied to formulation of a 'plan.' Some western countries,
although they do not favor 'planning' for their own economies, have
insisted that developing countries formulate 'plans' before they are
granted development aid. The late United States President, John F.
Kennedy, in his State of the Union Address to Congress on January 30,
1961, indicated that all United States foreign aid be extended on the
basis of ”orderly planning for national and regional development instead
of a piecemeal approach." Development planning in the Commonwealth
Caribbean countries goes back to the late 19305 and the findings of
the West Indies Royal Commission under the chairmanship of Lord Moyne.
The Commission was appointed by the British in 1938 to

. investigate social and economic conditions in Barbados,

British Guiana, British Honduras [Belize], Jamaica, the

Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward
Islands. 2

 

2Ashton Chase, A History of Trade Unionism in Guyana, 1900-1961
(Demerara, Guyana: New Guyana Co. Ltd., Ruimveldt, 1964), p. 94.

 

66

Among the many recommendations in the report of the Commission
(often referred to as the Moyne Commission) was the establishment of
a West Indian Welfare Fund, to be used for 'financing basic improve-
ments in the economic and social conditions of the people in the
West Indian Colonies.‘ This recommendation resulted in the passage
of the Colonial Development and Welfare (C.D. G W.) Act in 1940,
superseding a Colonial Development Act passed in 1929, which provided
for funds to be allocated for colonial development.

Approval of aid under the C.D. & W. Act, was conditional upon
the colonial authorities submitting plans and/or specifications for
various projects which qualified for such aid. The British were
convinced that development planning for the colonies was desirable
and in 1945 when another C.D. 8 W. Act was passed allocating more aid
funds, the colonies were required to prepare and submit ten-year
development plans for the period 1946-1956.3

But in addition to providing impetus to development planning
in the colonies, the C.D. 6 W. Act also gave leverage to the advocates
of free trade unionism in the colonies. Included in the Act was a
clause stipulating that:

. no territory might receive aid under the provisions

unless it had in force legislation protecting the rights
of trade unionism, and unless the works for which aid was

to be used were carried out under a contract which forbade
the employment of children under the age of fourteen.”

 

3See Albert Waterston, Develgpment Planning Lessons of
Experience (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1965), p. 34.

 

I'B. C. Roberts, Labor in the Tropical Territories of the
Commonwealth (Durham: Duke University Press, 1964), p. 188.

 

67

That clause became necessary because the Moyne Commission's report
strongly criticized the failure of colonial Governors to implement
Colonial Office policy dealing with fostering the development of
trade unions.

According to Knowles, the Moyne Report was so critical of
the colonial administration that ". . . its publication was held up
for the duration of the war for fear that its contents might be used

as enemy propaganda."5

In fact, the report, although presented to the
British Parliament in 1940, was not made public until 1945, thus giving
some credence to the observation by Knowles.

The origin of development planning in Belize goes back to
those C.D. 8 W. Acts providing British aid for development and one of
the earliest plans was for the period 1947-1956. However development
plans prepared in Belize prior to 1964, had limited local input, as
the country was not self-governing and British expatriate officials
dominated the administrative and legislative bodies responsible for
development planning.

On January 1, 1964 a new constitution came into being and
Belize had achieved full internal self-governing status. For the first
time the elected representatives of the people would be responsible for
the country's domestic affairs. While the British Governor retained

responsibility for external relations, defence, and the terms of ser-

vice of civil servants, his powers had been sharply curtailed. The

 

5William H. Knowles, Trade Union Development and Industrial
Relations in the British West Indies (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1959), p. 44.

 

 

68

Premier as leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives
became the head of government and President of the Cabinet.

As mentioned before, this study in examining development plan-
ning in Belize will only deal with those plans originating since 1964.
The reason for this is mainly due to the constitutional changes which
took place in January of that year. For the first time Belizeans were
responsible for planning the development of Belize, a new and chal-
lenging task, after hundreds of years of colonial exploitation and
neglect.

Planning has been defined in widely divergent ways, but many
writers see it as "an organized intelligent attempt to select the best
available alternatives to achieve specific goals.”° Perhaps one of
the more simple and pragmatic definitions is that given by former
Prime Minister Nehru of India: "Planning is the exercise of intel-
ligence to deal with facts and situations as they are and find a way
to solve problems."7

But despite the various definitions given to planning, and
the variety of forms which such planning may take, it is possible to
point out certain common attributes. These include:

. . looking ahead, making choices, and, where possible,
arranging that future actions for attaining objectives
follow fixed paths or, where this is impossible, setting

limits to the consequences which may arise from such
action.8

 

6Waterston, p. 8.

7Jawaharlal Nehru, "Strategy of the Third Plan," in Problems of
the Third Plan (New Delhi, India: Government of India, 1961),
pp. 33—34.

 

 

8Waterston, p. 9.

69

In addition to the above-mentioned attributes, planning for
national development entails not only planning for economic growth,
but it also requires certain social and cultural changes as well.
These are particularly important in developing countries; the
quantitative increases in economic growth goes hand in hand with
the qualitative social and cultural change. Without the latter
it is doubtful whether the former could be sustained for any

appreciable length of time.

National Development Planning in Belize

 

Since 1964, there have been two development plans prepared in
Belize. The first was for the period 1964 to 1970 and the second only
came out in 1977 covering the period 1977 to 1979. During the period
1971 through 1976 there was no plan in existence; it has not been
possible to determine what was the reason for this, and at this

stage speculation would be unjustified.

The 1964-1970 Development Plan

 

The objectives of the 1964-1970 plan were to:
1. increase the national income;
2. increase employment opportunities;

3. balance the recurrent budget and possibly provide a
surplus for contribution towards capital formation; and

4. make total exports exceed the imports of consumption goods.9
The plan clearly gives priority to economic growth as it

states, "The importance of improving certain of the social services

 

9Government of Belize, Development Plan 1964-1970, p. 19.

 

70

such as housing, water, sewerage and medical services is accepted
as important. Their contribution to economic efficiency is recog-
nized."10 According to Professor W. Arthur Lewis,
. . it is as important to expand social services as

it is to produce more commodities; neither has priority

over the other. Social services can to some extent be

justified on the ground that they increase productivity,

but even in so far as they are to be justified only as

consumption, they rank equally with any other kind of

consumption.

It does not take much research or technical skill for one
to deduce that a country with a population which lacks management
or entrepreneurial skills, has poor development of labor skills, is
lethargic due to disease and poor health services, will most likely
be unable to sustain any high degree of economic growth. Such growth
depends not only on the amount of work done, but on the intelligence,
initiative and energy shown in making and seizing new opportunities.
Good health undoubtedly enhances those qualities.

Professors Harbison and Myers have carried out a major manpower
study relating to education and economic growth and have developed an
'index of levels of human resource development.‘ This index which is
a composite of several factors, takes into account the number of teach-
ers, engineers, scientists, and doctors in relation to the population

of nations, and percentages of the school-age population enrolled in

various levels of educational pursuits. According to the study there

 

1° Ibid., p. 19.

11Caribbean Organization, Planning for Economic Development in
the Caribbean (Hato Rey, Puerto Rico: Central Secretariat Caribbean
Organization, 1963), p. 165.

 

71

is a high degree of correlation between per capita out-put and the
index of human resource development. Table 13 summarizes the results
of the study which was carried out in 75 countries. The correlation
coefficient between the composite index and GNP was 0.89 for the 75

countries.12

The point is, that a development plan should give recog-
nition to the fact that investment in human capital and other social
services is an essential part of the process of economic development,
although progress in that area may not be as visible as new factories,
highways or electrification schemes.

The Development Plan 1964-1970 gave priority to agriculture
for the use of funds to implement the plan, i.e., if there was a
shortfall in the financial allocation for the overall plan, then
other programs would be rescaled in order to allow the full agri-
cultural program to be implemented. The basis of that decision was
that: "priority must be given to increasing the productive capacity
of the industries that will provide the current and capital inputs
that the social services will require."13

In Belize as in many other countries, most of the services
classified as social services are provided by government, viz.
education, medical and public health service, community development

services, water and sewerage systems, telecommunications, roads,

electricity, etc. These services are financed by the Government of

 

12See F. H. Harbison and C. A. Myers, Education, Manpower and
Economic Growth (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1964), pp. 23-48.

 

 

13Government of Belize, Development Plan 1964-1970, p. 19.

 

72

TABLE 13

COUNTRIES GROUPED BY HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
AND GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT, 1958-1959

 

 

National
Index of Averages
Human per Capita
Resource GNP
Countries (in Order from Highest to Lowest) Development ($ U.S.)

 

Advanced countries:

 

U.S.A., New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands,

Belgium, United Kingdom, Japan, France,

Canada, USSR, Finland, West Germany,

Israel, Argentina, Sweden, and Denmark 115 $1,100

Semiadvanced countries:

 

Norway, Uruguay, Czechoslovakia, Poland,

Yugoslavia, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan,

Hungary, Chile, Greece, Venezuela,

Costa Rica, Portugal, Egypt, South Africa,

Spain, Cuba, India, Thailand, and Mexico 50 380

Partially developed countries:

 

Iraq, Peru, Turkey, Jamaica, Pakistan,

Ecuador, Lebanon, Malaya, Ghana, Paraguay,

Colombia, Brazil, China, Iran, Tunisia,

Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Burma,

Libya, Indonesia, and Guatemala 21 182

Less developed countries:

 

Sudan, Uganda, Senegal, Haiti, Nigeria,

Kenya, Liberia, Congo, N. Rhodesia,

Ivory Coast, Tanganyika, Saudi Arabia,

Afghanistan, Somalia, Nyasaland, Ethopia,

and Niger 3.2 84

 

Source: F. Ray Marshall, Allan M. Cartter, and Allan G. King, Labor,
Economics, Wages, Employment, and Trade Unionism (Homewood,
111.: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1976), p. 555.

 

 

73

Belize from local taxation, loans, grants and foreign aid. In 1964,
the year the Development Plan was published, the main sources of
government revenue were customs duties (32.5 percent) and income
taxes (13.6 percent). British development aid, while not a source
of revenue, accounted for approximately 10 percent of funds available
for government expenditure.

Table 14 shows the revenue situation in 1964 and 1965, one
year after the plan was in effect. It can be seen that customs duties
provided tlmalargest single source of government revenue, comprising
import duties and entry tax on various commodities. Table 15 gives
a further breakdown of revenue, from import duties, on the basis of
specific commodities for the years 1964 and 1965.

Although food imports by dollar value are the largest single
item imported, the amount of income generated through import duties
on food items is relatively low as indicated in Table 15.

By giving priority to the use of funds for the development
of domestic and export agriculture the development plan:

. proposed to increase the output of the existing

export crops--sugar and citrus--and to produce cattle,
cocoa, bananas and tobacco for the export market; also
to embark on a substantial measure of substituting
locally produced staples such as rice, beans and meat
products for imports.
According to the import statistics for 1964 the total value of food

15

imports in 1964 was Bze $8.2 million, although the Development Plan

 

1"with, p. 26.

15Central Planning Unit, Abstract of Statistics, 1970-1972,
vol. 2 (Belmopan, Belize: The Government Printer), p. 1, Table 1.

 

74

TABLE

14

GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE MAJOR SOURCES OF REVENUE FOR 1964 AND 1965

('000 Belize $)

 

 

Total in Dollars and Percent of Total

 

 

 

 

 

1964 1965

Sources of Revenue $ %3 $ %3
Customs 4,822 32.5 5,355 39.6
Excise on spirits 172 1.2 151 .l
Excise on cigarettes 65 0.4 63 0.5
Income tax 2,018 13.6 1,791 13.3
Land tax 219 1.5 174 1.3
Estate duty 110 0.7 32 0.2
Stamp duty 231 .6 163 1.2
Motor vehicle and bicycle

licenses 129 .9 154 1.1
British Development aid 1,464 .9 1,766 13.1
Grant-in-aid 250 1.7 500 3.7
Hurricane rehabilitation 2,183 14.7 519 3.8
Other 3,192 21.5 2,839 21.0

Total 14,855 100.0 13,507 100.0

 

Source: Central Planning Unit, Abstract of Statistics, 1970-1972,

vol. 2 (Belmopan, Belize:

Table 8.

aPercentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

 

The Government Printer), p.

16,

75

TABLE 15

REVENUE FROM IMPORT DUTIES CLASSIFIED BY
S.I.T.C. FOR 1964 AND 1965
('000 Belize $)

 

 

Revenue in Dollars and Percent of Total

 

 

 

 

 

1964 1965
. 03 aa

Commodlty by S.I.T.C. $ 6 $ 6
0--Food 500 12.1 563 11.8
l--Beverages and tobacco 1,056 25.5 1,209 25.3
2--Crude materials inedible

except fuels 1 0.02 2 0.04
3--Mineral fuels, lubricants

and related materials 569 13.7 658 13.8
4--Animal and vegetable oils

and fats 3 0.1 5 0.1
5--Chemicals 258 6.2 283 5.9
6--Manufactured goods 693 16.7 823 17.2
7--Machinery and transport

equipment 522 12.6 583 12.2
8--Misce11aneous manu-

factured articles 474 11.4 596 12.5
9--Goods and other

transactions 69 1.7 61 1.3

Total 4,145 100.0 4,783 100.0

 

Source: Central Planning Unit, Abstract of Statistics, 1970-1972,
vol. 2 (Belmopan, Belize: The Government Printer), p. 17,
Table 9.

 

aPercentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

76

states that that figure is only Bze $5 million. The Plan claims
that an estimated Bze $3 million of those imports could "be compet-

itively produced locally."16

It is clear from looking at a list of
the food imports (see Appendix B), that most of those food items could
indeed be produced locally. Unfortunately, by 1971, one year after the
expiration of the Development Plan, the total value of food imports had
jumped to Bze $15.1 million.17
This researcher has not been able to locate any official
reason or explanation for almost 100 percent increase in the value
of food imports between 1964 and 1971. However Table 16 gives an
indication of the shortfall in the projected output of almost all
the items listed. The anticipated output of agricultural products
based on the projections in the Development Plan were not realized
and the rising expectations of the people could only be satisfied by
importing food to meet the demand.
But the situation becomes even more acute as the latest
Development Plan (1977-1979) states that, "imports of 'Food' items
increased by 24.4 percent between 1971 and 1973, then moved up sharply

by 112.5 percent between 1973 and 1975."18 It is thus quite clear

that the planning process has not been successful in generating a

 

16Government of Belize, Development Plan 1964-1970, p. 26.

17Central Planning Unit, Abstract of Statistics, 1970-1972,
vol. 2, p. 1, Table 1.

18Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 7.

 

77

TABLE 16

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN BELIZE COMPARATIVE
OUTPUT 1964 AND 1970

 

 

 

Projected Output by Actual
a Output in 1970 According to Output
Product 1964 Development Plan in 1970
Livestock
Cattle (by the head) 33,000 50,000 38,399
Beef ('000 lbs.) 939 Not stated 1,045
Pork ('000 lbs.) 1,209 1,500 448
Sugar (tons) 33,591 40,000 64,851
Rice ('000 lbs.
milled rice) 3,386 10,000 4,620
Beans (red kidney
in '000 lbs.) 1,500 15,321 4,050
Corn (in '000 lbs.) 9,107 70,560 _ 35,000
Citrus (acreage under
cultivation) 8,146 10,200 9,201

 

Source: Central Planning Unit, Abstract of Statistics, 1970-1972,
vol. 2 (Belmopan, Belize: The Government Printer), pp. 44-54;
and Central Planning Unit, Economic Survey, 1971 (Belmopan,
Belize: The Government Printer), pp. 14-24.

 

 

8Products for which comparative data are available.

78

sufficiently high quantity of domestic food production to satisfy
local demand and thus displace the imports.

Earlier in this study it was pointed out that 'Plans which
ignore the human factor in their application will remain plans' (see
page 2). It was also established that Belizeans in general, due in
part to the nature of the country's early development, have not indi-
cated a strong desire to become involved in agriculture. While one
must not ignore the use of modern technology for increasing agricultural
production, the human factor is also extremely important. In Belize
the latter has been largely ignored, despite the importance attributed
to agriculture in the Development Plan.

As a means of enhancing agricultural development, the Plan
proposes that the program for education should emphasize,

. the teaching of the rudiments of scientific agri-

culture in all rural schools, for the development of Lynam
College* and of the School of Agriculture at Central Farm
to produce farmers, farm supervisors and agricultural
administrators.19

However, the School of Agriculture is geared for students of
post-primary school age. For example, in 1967 the School offered ten
courses to special groups of participants with an average duration of

twelve days per course. The school is not an agricultural school in

the true sense of the word; it has no permanent or full-time staff and

 

*Lynam College was a high school run by the Jesuits (Roman
Catholic Church) devoted to providing students with an agriculturally
biased education. This school has now been closed mainly due to lack
of financial support.

19Government of Belize, Development Plan 1964-1970, p. 27.

 

79

teaching of courses dealing with specific aspects of agriculture is
carried out by the staff of the Agriculture Department. According

to The New Belize, a government publication, in October 1977, the

 

Belize School of Agriculture was opened at Central Farm in the Cayo
District. The magazine further points out that a Dean and Assistant
Dean of the 'School' have been appointed. It would appear that the
Belize School of Agriculture has superseded the 'School of Agriculture'
mentioned above.

The problem with such projects is that they are rarely well
funded, and that presents an immediate problem for their successful
existence. For example, an examination of the 1977 budget reveals
no provision for a School of Agriculture, or for payment of the Dean,
Assistant Dean, or any other staff. Funds forthe school will obviously
be 'pinched' from the regular budget of the Agriculture Department. But
an even more important question is, why not establish the agricultural
school under the control of the Ministry of Education? Surely that
Ministry with its expertise in curriculum development, trained tech—
nical staff and experience in educational administration would be the
obvious area under which all education should be undertaken. It would
also allow better coordination between the School of Agriculture, the
Primary schools and the Secondary schools. While this study cannot
delve too deeply into this aspect of development in Belize, we can
only hope that the current School of Agriculture will be more

effective than its predecessor.

80

The present School of Agriculture is ideally situated near
the government's major Agricultural Experimental Station. 11:15 not
clear whether the school is intended as a training center offering
courses mainly at the craft level or if it will also include
agricultural educational courses up to the secondary level.

Agricultural education has been given some priority in the
Development Plan and the Agricultural School should be established on
a sound basis. This entails sufficient staff and an adequate financial
allocation for equipment, books and residence facilities for the stu-
dents. The area in which the school is located is a rural area and
private housing is not available for students. Dormitory facilities
would have to be provided. While students at the school could be
allowed use of existing laboratory and other facilities, it would
be more convenient if the school could have its own facilities. The
existing facilities are barely sufficient to meet the demands of the
government's agricultural research staff, hence the suggestion that
the school obtain its own laboratory facilities.

In analyzing the development of agriculture in Belize,
there are indications that a large proportion of the population is not
oriented towards agriculture. The Development Plan proposes to deal
with that problem by introducing pupils to agriculture in both urban
and rural schools at the primary level. It is at that level that
pupils shou1d_be introduced to agriculture, both in the rural and
urban areas; nevertheless the primary school curriculum does not

provide for teaching of agriculture in those schools. Some schools

81

do have school gardens, but the establishment of these really depends
on the initiative of the individual school principal, rather than a
requirement of the curriculum.

Of course the situation in the primary schools is mainly the
result of the absence of agricultural subjects from the curriculum of

0 If the teachers who are being prepared

the Belize Teacher's College.2
for teaching in the primary schools have not been given any agricultural
training, then they could not be expected to teach such subjects in the
primary schools.

Despite the situation mentioned above, apparently in keeping
with the promise in the Development Plan 1964-1970 (see page 78 ante)
a pilot project for agricultural education in nine rural primary schools
was started in 1976. Unfortunately, the official from the Ministry of
Education who was placed in charge of the project had no specific
expertise in agriculture or agricultural education.

While the pilot project is a useful beginning, its expansion
to the majority if not all primary schools will be restricted due to
the limited exposure which most teachers have had with agricultural

education. The project should be evaluated on a continuing basis

in order to determine:

 

2°After the completion of the research for this thesis,
the writer was informed that 'agriculture' has now been added to the
curriculum of the Belize Teacher's College. It has not been determined
how extensive will be the agricultural bias in the curriculum of that
College, or whether or not the addition of 'agriculture' is simply a
cosmetic change.

82

1. how well teachers cope with the teaching of agricultural
subjects in the schools;
2. additional costs to the school system in terms of equipment
and land for school gardens, etc.;
3. how effective is the teaching of agriculture at the primary
level in encouraging pupils to:
a. remain in the rural areas and get involved in farming,
b. go on to secondary schools and major in agricultural
science, or
c. develop a complete dislike for agriculture and thus
wish to leave the rural areas; and
4. the views of parents on the teaching of agricultural subjects

in the primary schools.

At the secondary level the school curriculum has a similar
deficiency, although most high school students are able to pursue
subjects in the natural sciences which are necessary if they wish
to specialize in agriculture at the College level. The orientation
towards an agricultural bias is absent in the secondary schools with
the result that very few students go on to specialize in the agricul-

tural sciences, veterinary medicine or agricultural economics.

The 1977-1979 Development Plan

 

A Bolivian delegate to a Latin American Seminar on Planning
held in Argentina during 1963 observed, 'No hay que hacer planes a

corto plazo si no hay que en corto plazo hacer planes' (what is needed

83

is not so much short term plans as plans prepared in a short time).

It is amazing that it could take from 1971 to 1976 to produce a three
year development plan in Belize, but from the quotation above it would
appear that long delays in preparing development plans are not unknown
in other parts of Latin America.

However, by studying the Development Plan 1977-1979 one begins
to doubt whether in Belize we have development planning or simply
development plans.

Gross has pointed out that, "development planning, then, is
not the same thing as a development plan. Those who confuse the two
mistake a product of the planning process for the process itself."21
We may therefore look at planning as a process which is an almost
indispensable precondition in the formulation of effective development
policies. "Whether or not the bases and rationale for these policies
should be set forth in a paper plan is another matter."22 It should
be clear that by preparing a document which embodies the results of
such planning, there can be a systematic approach to coordinating
development decisions. As Cairncross states,

It is a mistake to suppose that nothing ever gets decided
or 'planned' until there is a programme. Just as it is

nonsense to equate planning with the publication of a
quinquennial programme, so it is nonsense to think that

 

21Bertram M. Gross, "When Is a Plan Not a Plan?" Challenge
10:3 (December 1961): 11.

22United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa, Problems
Concerning Techniques of Development Programming in African Countries
(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, December 1959, E7Cn.14/42/Add. l), p. 18.

84

a programme settles everything and that no sensible
decisions can be taken without one.23

While the statement above by Cairncross may have some degree
of merit, its applicability to a developing country such as Belize must
be considered in the light of past plans and the development planning
process. In 1963, a United Nations Planning Team after visiting Belize
presented its findings and recommendations to Government in the form of
a 'Development Plan in broad outline.‘ Government accepted that plan
in principle but found certain areas of disagreement and thus prepared
its own plan within the framework of the plan submitted by the United
Nations Team, covering the period 1964-1970.

From 1971 to 1976 there was no plan 'on paper' yet according
to Cairncross referred to above, this does not mean that nothing was
planned or achieved during that period. Since government has decided
on development planning as the process through which development
policies for the social and economic welfare of Belizeans would be
improved, then, such a break in the planning process could have a
detrimental effect on the process. In the absence of a plan it is
easy to attempt to use the annual budget as if it were a development
plan. Annual budgets include nondevelopment expenditures and the
budget making period is usually too short to make adequate appraisals
for development projects or programs. That part of the budget dealing

with capital expenditure also only deals with the public sector of the

 

23A. K. Cairncross, "Programmes as Instruments of Coordination,"
Scottish Journal of Political Economy (Edinburgh) 8:2 (June 1961): 90.

 

85

economy and is therefore not a suitable instrument of coordination
with the private sector.

What then is the reason for a three-year development plan in
the light of the statement by the government that, "it is the first
phase of the long term perspective for socio-economic and political
change which the government wants to establish during the next 25
years"?2“

One obvious reason could be political considerations. The
ruling party in government was elected in December 1974 for a maximum
term of five years, which expires in 1979. Therefore, although it has
indicated that there are certain socio-economic and political changes
which the government wishes to establish, it is only prepared to give
the pe0p1e a three-year glimpse of what those changes are likely to be.
It may be that the governing party feels that planning should be of
maximum assistance to it, therefore the planning period should coincide
with its term of office.

Dr. Eric Williams, an outstanding Caribbean scholar and
politician, presently Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, opposes
that view. He states that:

. . . to have medium-term plans coinciding with the term
of office of a government is bound to 'overpoliticise'
the process of national economic and social planning.
Under these circumstances it is almost inevitable that
planning will become the sport of party politics. Wild

promises rather than realistic goals will be set out in
the Plan, since it is almost certain to be made into an

 

2"Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 1.

 

86

election manifesto, whether that is or is not the
intention of the ruling party.25

While government development planning is fundamentally a
political activity, the plan should take into aCcount not only eco-
nomic but also social and institutional conditions. The plan should
not only deal with increases in GNP and per capita income, it should
also be concerned with a policy directed towards social changes such
as land reform, the redistribution of incomes and the formation of
financial and budgetary discipline. By looking at the goals of the
1977-1979 Plan, one can see where they are vague and indeterminate
with broad generalizations, e.g., ". . . the Government strategy
will be to":

1. increase the rate of growth in real output originating

in an expansion of:

a. farm output for export and import substitution and

import replacement;

b. industrial production for export, import substi-

tution and import replacement; 8
2. increase the value of national savings, especially
the share generated by the public sector and through
this means increase the participation of nationals

in the key sectors of the economy;

3. bring about an absolute reduction in the current
account deficit of the Balance of Payment;

4. increase employment opportunities;
5. diversify the economic structure so as to

increase the viability of the national economy
(e.g., to reduce dependence on a few crops); and

 

25Eric Williams, "The Purpose of Planning," in The Crisis in
Planning, vol. 1, ed. Mike Faber and Dudley Seers (London: Sussex
University Press, 1972), p. 41.

 

87

6. raise the standard of living through self-help and

through greater participation in the process of

social and economic development.26

Although it is not possible to deal with those goals analyt-
ically, it is difficult to understand what they are really intended to
achieve. This is especially so in the light of the previously quoted
statement by the government that the plan is 'the first phase of the
long term perspective for socio-economic and political change.‘ It
is felt that such change may be either structural or functional; the
former indicates that the existing socio-economic and political struc-
ture is untenable and that total change is necessary if certain devel-
opmental goals are to be met. In the latter case total change may not
be necessary, as Zweig states, "functional planning will only repair
not build anew; it will improve the work of the existing order, but
not supersede it."27

In the view of this researcher the goals listed above are
designed for economic improvement at the macro level, with the apparent
hope that such changes will have favorable spillover effect on the
social structure. It is not possible to even speculate on the possible

effect which it may have on the country's political structure. But

such are the vagaries of development planning in Belize.

 

26Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 12.

27F. Zweig, The Planning of Free Societies (London: Secker and
Warburg, 1943), p. 78.

 

88

A Policy for Industrial Development

 

According to the booklet Belize New Nation In Central America

 

published in 1976, "Government has now embarked on an active programme

to promote industrial development."28

Since the 19605 certain develop-
ment incentive legislation was passed with the intention of encouraging
'industrialization by invitation' in Belize.

The law provided incentives to agricultural and industrial
enterprises, such as income tax and import duty exemptions on required
capital and raw materials not available in Belize. At the time these
laws were passed, 'Operation Bootstrap' in Puerto Rico was seen as
the way developing countries could develop their industrial base.

It was felt that the success which the Puerto Ricans were having with
Operation Bootstrap could be duplicated in other areas of the Caribbean.

While the ideas behind a 'Bootstrap' type development program
had much appeal to a country like Belize, it should have been realized
from the beginning that the basic economic infrastructure in Belize
left much to be desired. Although road connection existed between
all the major towns except Punta Gorda in the south, the roads were
narrow, the pavement being twelve feet or less in many places. The
electricity generating capacity was extremely limited particularly
in the district towns and was totally absent in the rural areas. The
internal telecommunication system was archaic resulting in extremely
inefficient service both in the capital--Belize City, and to the

district towns. It was not until the mid-19605 that an automatic

 

28Government of Belize, Belize New Nation in Central America,

 

p. 22.

89

dial telephone system was introduced in Belize City, then the capital
of the country. The extension of that system to the other towns and
some rural villages was not completed until the early 19705.

Therefore although the government was serious in its intent
to attract overseas investment to Belize, its effort met with little
success. In 1961 a Ministerial mi55ion visited Canada, the United
States of America and Jamaica for the purpose of luring investors to
Belize, in addition to seeking needed technical assistance.

But it could not be said that 'industrialization by invitation'
has been successful in Belize and as the 1977-1979 Development Plan
points out, the industrial sector contributes only 10.0 percent to
gross domestic product. Government has clearly recognized that that
sector has the potential to make a larger contribution to GDP. Efforts
have thus been made to improve the basic economic infrastructure in
order to facilitate the establishment of new industries for both
domestic and export production.

In the past, industrial development in Belize was faced with
the problem ofa small domestic market. The local demand was consid-
ered too small to warrant production of many manufactured commodities,
while efficient production in the agricultural sector could easily
flood the market, with the excess production going to waste unless
export markets were available. The problem of export markets partic-
ularly for agricultural products has been solved to some extent since

Belize has become a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)29 in

 

29See note on CARICOM in Appendix C.

90

1974. The country now has access to a potential market of over five
million in CARICOM made up of the former British colonies in the
Caribbean area including Guyana in South America.

Investment in industrial development in Belize should now be
more lucrative due to the enlarged market, although such questions as
the mobility of labor between the member countries of CARICOM must
still be resolved. With the much larger market available to Belize
through CARICOM, the country should be able to develop a fair amount
of light manufacturing industries and greatly expand its agricultural
industries.

For the development of industrial output there are four broad
categories of resources which are required, viz. labor, management and
entrepreneurship, capital, and natural resources. In this study the
emphasis is on the labor aspect of those resources, although some men-
tion will be made of management and entrepreneurship. ‘Labor is a major
factor of production and can also be seen as one of the main benefi-
ciaries for which the results of industrialization are intended.

While in most developing countries labor is an abundant factor
of production, in Belize that is not the case. According to the 1977-
1979 Development Plan, during the Plan period:

Labor force requirements will reach almost 47,900 persons,
mainly for agricultural labor and industrial workers. But
the economically active population will only be 41,800
persons. Some 6,100 additional persons will therefore

be required to ensure that the Plan targets are achieved

and that the projected growth rate of Gross Domestic
Product is maintained.3

 

3°Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 13.

 

91

In order to cope with the projected shortage of labor, the
plan proposes to "emphasize projects and programmes which can lend
themselves to further labor saving devices, e.g., mechanization of
more farm activities and the further processing of raw materials by
more capital intensive methods."31 The shortage of labor can also
be met by the importation of foreign labor, but it is clear that
government will not allow an 'open-door' immigration policy to develop.
Instead, there will be selective entry limited to those with the
ability to contribute to the industrialization of the country.

On the other hand, government needs to ensure that its
development program is successful enough to provide Belizeans with
sufficient incentives for them to remain at home rather than emigrating.
Although there are no reliable data available, indications are that
there is a steady flow of immigrants from Belize particularly to the
United States of America. According to Thompson, the net out-migration
of secondary school graduates from Belize is about 30 percent.32 The
Development Plan also recognizes the emigration problem and attributes
the low rate of population increase in Belize City between 1960 and

1970 partially to emigration to the United States of America.33

 

31lbid.

32John Timothy Thompson, "Secondary Education and Employment in
Belize: A Tracer Study of Recent Graduates" (Ph.D. dissertation,
Michigan State University, 1973), p. 72.

33Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 3.

 

92

The problem of emigration has a twofold characteristic,
there is emigration from the rural to the urban areas and emigration
from the urban areas (generally) abroad. To help remedy the former
situation, rural life should be made more attractive, land reform and
rural industrialization could help to dim the lure of the 'bright
lights' in the towns and cities. Another measure which although more
difficult to implement would be to maintain the average real rural wage
equivalent to the average real urban wage, for comparable skills. In
Belize the drift to the urban areas is not due so much to the imbalance
of the wage structure (although this does occur) as to the limited
opportunities for regular wage employment in the rural areas.

One answer to the problem of rural emigration lies in the
development of the economic infrastructure, and this has been discussed
before as a means for enhancing overall economic development. The
limited return accruing to the manual labor involved in rural living,
relatively lack of access to certain utilities and the overall drabness
of rural life, serves to spur migration from the rural areas. On the
positive side access to better educational and entertainment facilities,
the attraction of jobs in the government or service sectors even at
lowest levels serve to stimulate the influx from the rural areas to
the towns and cities.

Improvement of the economic infrastructure could lead to
development of industries and thus provide increased employment oppor-
tunities to the rural population. In addition, such measures as village

electrification, improved educational facilities, upgrading of medical

93

and other social services would all help to enhance the quality of
life in those areas.

As far as the problem of emigration abroad is concerned, this
has much broader ramifications. Even the building of the Berlin Wall
did not prevent East Germans from leaving their country, although it
did reduce the numbers able to leave. Human nature being the way it
is, the 'grass will always look greener on the other side.‘ There
will always be a certain degree of emigration; this occurs in all
countries; the best we can do is to keep it to a minimum. Therefore
in the absence of mandatory controls to prevent emigration, a country
like Belize will have to ensure that sufficient employment opportunities
exist within its borders to attract those who would emigrate. Develop-
ment policies should enable the building of a strong economy which would
provide employment opportunities for educated Belizeans, as those are
the persons most likely to emigrate.

The overall policy towards industrial development is as follows:

a. It is proposed to encourage joint ventures in manu-

facturing enterprises, with firms in CARICOM countries

providing management and technical skills and Belize

providing raw materials and semi-skilled/unskilled

labour.

b. Government will create the necessary climate by pro-

viding the concessions and infrastructure required for

the development of industries, and the private sector

will be expected to undertake the necessary investment.

Where feasible government will consider joint ventures

with private enterprises.3”

The objectives of that policy as stated in the Development

Plan will be to:

 

3‘*Ibid., p. 31.

94

a. attract a selected number of import substitution
industries, and to develop offshore industries in
urban areas;

b. to encourage export oriented industries; and

c. to encourage where possible a higher level of
national participation.3

It is recognized that in stating the policy and objectives
envisaged in a program of industrial development, it may be difficult
to be precise especially when much of the capital and entrepreneurship
is expected to come from external sources. But the policy for indus-
trial development which includes both agricultural and manufacturing
industries seems to be rather vague. The Plan does not indicate an
anticipated growth rate for the industrial sector or what percentage
of GDP is expected to be derived from the industrial sector at the end
of the Plan period.

Other developing countries which have development plans have
been using a wide variety of measures to accelerate their industrial
progress:

A common theme running through the plans is that substan-
tial amounts of investment would be undertaken in order to
increase industrial capacity. . . . For developing countries
as a group the yearly increase sought in manufacturing is
about 10 percent. . . . In Bangladesh and Costa Rica the
stress is on enabling the banking system to provide medium
and long-term loans. . . . In Kenya the emphasis is also

on decentralization of financial operations through imple-
mentation of the Rural Industrial Development Programme.

In some countries tax concessions are to be modified with

a view to avoiding distortions of the relative prices of
labour and capital.36

 

351bid., p. 31.

36United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Journal of Development Planning, No. 11 (New York: United Nations,
1977, E.77. 11. A. 14), pp. 78-81.

 

95

Planning for industrial development is of course an integral
part of overall economic planning and in Belize where only rudimentary
economic statistics are available, economic planning in general is
difficult. Sutcliffe has remarked that many countries "have produced
economic plans, though this does not mean that in any significant sense
they employ economic planning."37

Looking at industrial development, Sutcliffe has listed five

basic decisions which should be taken into consideration:

1. The choice of sectorial priorities (agriculture,
industry, basic facilities).

2. The choice of industries within the industrial
sector.

3. The choice of proportions of industrial output
and investment in the public and private sectors
respectively.
4. The choice of techniques of production in industry.
5. The choice of industrial location.38
Careful analysis of the choices listed would point out the
difficulty of making any one choice independently of the other.
Planning for industrial development will not be successful by having
little booklets called Development Plans in which desirable goals are
printed. Dudley Seers has questioned the emphasis on planning docu-

ments, pointing out that planning is not writing plans. He further

points out that:

 

37R. B. Sutcliffe, Industry and Underdevelopment (London:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1971), p. 304.

 

38lbid., p. 303.

96

Perhaps the most important job of a planning office

is to plan planning itself--to aim at improvement of the

government machine as an instrument for influencing social

and economic development. This covers programs for the

improvement of the flow of information, including

statistics and research.39

While the issue of whether or not a planning document should

be issued is debatable, it should be recognized that planning is not
completed with the publication of the document. Economic planning
in general carries a certain degree of complexity, requiring co-
ordination between a wide range of economic activities. There is
also an important need for objective evaluation of the results of
past plans and a continuous revision or review of the current plan
in the light of experience. The current Development Plan for Belize
and particularly the section dealing with Industrial Development
gives no indication that the policies and objectives have taken into
account the various issues discussed above. In that respect the
policy for industrial development will most likely not achieve the
anticipated goals, especially with the role of government being mainly
a catalyst to the industrial sector. In a developing country such as
Belize, the role of government must be more vigorous, not only in
creating the climate for development, but in taking steps to ensure

that the climate is stimulating enough to lead to acceleration of

industrial development.

 

39Professor Dudley Seers, "The Prevalence of Pseudo-Planning,"
in The Crisis in Planning, vol. 1: The Issues, eds. Mike Faber and
Dudley Seers (London: Sussex University Press, 1972), pp. 32-33.

 

 

97

Implications of the Industrial
Development Policy

 

 

Workers bear the brunt of failures to plan the orderly
introduction of advances in the process of production.

--Robert K. Merton

According to the 1977-1979 Development Plan, over the plan
period,labor force requirements will reach almost 47,900 persons while
the economically active population will be only 41,800 persons. Because
of the resulting shortfall of some 6,100 persons, the plan proposes to
stress capital intensive industrial production methods, in addition to
encouraging some measure of immigration of labor to meet the anticipated
demand.

Although the Development Plan projects a shortage of labor by
the end of the Plan period in 1979, available data does not support
such a projection. The Population Census shows that there were 59,171
persons fourteen years and under in 1970. A breakdown of that number
by single years of age and sex is given in Table 17.

By the end of the plan period in 1979, all persons six to
fourteen inclusive in 1970, would be fifteen years or older and eligible
for entry into the labor force. The potential addition to the labor
force would therefore be 33,168 persons comprising 16,710 males and
16,458 females. In making projections of the labor force, it is usual
to project the proportion of the population in a certain age/sex group
which is expected to be in the labor force using the labor force par-

ticipation rate and then apply these rates to the expected population.

98

TABLE 17

POPULATION FOURTEEN YEARS AND UNDER BY SEX
AND SINGLE YEARS OF AGE, 1970

 

 

 

 

Single Years of Age Male Female Total
00 1,884 1,813 3,697
01 2,322 2,222 4,544
02 2,272 2,252 4,524
03 2,214 2,185 4,399
04 2,304 2,260 4,564
05 2,155 2,117 4,272
06 2,193 2,147 4,340
07 2,169 2,180 4,349
08 2,009 2,006 4,015
09 1,982 1,870 3,852
10 1,852 1,826 3,678
11 1,719 1,686 3,405
12 1,655 1,734 3,389
13 1,580 1,587 3,167
14 1,551 1,422 2,973

Total 29,861 29,307 59,168

 

Source: Census Research Programme, Population Census of the Common-
wealth Caribbean, 1970 (Mona, Jamaica, W.I.:

 

 

University of

the West Indies, 1973), vol. 3, Sec. C, Table 5, pp. 188-191.

99

It is recognized that in making such projections past trends
in birth rates, death rates, net immigration, etc., should be taken
into account. For the purpose of the projection being undertaken,
birth rates would not affect the level of participation since everyone
of working age (fifteen years and over) at the future date has already
been born. As mentioned before, in Belize labor force data are almost
nonexistent and one has to depend on the population census data.

Trends in labor force participation rates are therefore calculated
based on the census data.

As mentioned in Chapter II, the trend in labor force partici-
pation rates for males and females between fifteen and sixty-four years
of age, showed increases and stood at 93.1 and 20.4 percent for males
and females respectively in 1970. Applying those rates to the potential
addition to the labor force (16,710 males and 16,458 females) given
above, there is an overall total of 18,914 persons (15,557 males and
3,357 females) entering the labor force by the end of 1979.

If 18,914 persons are added to 31,544 (labor force in 1970)
the total labor force in 1979 would be 50,458 persons. Although of
those who were in the labor force in 1970, death, retirement, emigration
or other factors might reduce their numbers. Yet that latter figure is
in excess (by 2,558 persons) of the labor force of 47,900 persons pro-
jected in the Development Plan. Even if the planners are given the
benefit of the doubt, it is unlikely that the demand for labor by
the end of 1979 would be short by more than 6,000. The data do not

support such a proposition.

100

However, if there was a shortage it would seem more feasible
to encourage an increase in the female labor force participation rate
than bringing in immigrants to satisfy the demand for labor. This is
in the light of the fact that the population is increasing at over
3 percent per annum and the population under fifteen years stood at
49.3 percent in 1970.

Employment has often been found to be a secondary, not a
primary,objective of planning. Looking at the 1977-1979 Development
Plan, it is clear that the concern is mainly for higher output and the
employment generating potential of the plan is not exactly planned. In
fact, only one page of the entire plan is devoted to employment per se.
The implication is that high rates of growth will ensure increased
employment. This is not necessarily so and it was found that "a
sustained 6 percent rate of growth in Pakistan in the 1960's led
to rising unemployment. .""°

Concern about employment strategy is even less evident in
Belize when we find that neither the government's Planning Unit nor
the Department of Labor have seen it fit to collect data on employment
or unemployment. The Plan does not discuss the employment of the
unemployed and moreover a study of the Plan would give the impression
that there is no unemployment in Belize. The 1970 census data are

used to state that unemployment fell from 9.1 percent in 1960 to

 

l“’Mahbub ul Haq, "Employment in the 1970's: A New Perspective,"
in The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment, ed.
Charles K. Wilber (New York: Random House, 1973), p. 267.

101

4.7 percent in 1970, if that trend continues by 1980, Belize would
achieve full employment.

Population census data are not suitable for determining
unemployment, especially in a developing country with seasonal
industries and the peculiar characteristics of the labor force
and the pattern of employment. The number of unemployed was obtained
from two categories of nonworkers: persons seeking employment for
the first time and those employed before, but now out of work and
seeking employment.

The broad definition of worker included: a person who had
worked on at least one day during the fortnight preceding the day of
enumeration, and anyone engaged in seasonal activity who had worked for
at least an hour a day, throughout the greater part of the working
season. With such a broad definition for categorizing 'worker,‘ the
number in the nonworker category would be greatly reduCed. Also when
sub-groups such as household workers, students, retired persons, and
dependents are accounted for, the two residual sub-groups mentioned
above are then classified as unemployed. It is therefore no surprise
to find that in a labor force of 31,544 there are only 1,568 persons
listed as unemployed, taking into account that the total working age

population was 55,624.

Summary
Despite a relatively late start in national development plan-
ning, the government of Belize supports the idea of national planning

for social and economic development. By preparing documents called

102

Development Plans, the government is able to coordinate various
decisions and strategies in a systematic manner, in order to achieve
the overall goals for national development.

In view of the commitment in the Development Plan to industrial
development in both the agricultural and the manufacturing sectors, it
is felt that sufficient emphasis has not been given to the human
resources aspect in that sector of the country's development. The
education system is not geared to even encouraging an agricultural
bias in the schools, both at the primary and the secondary levels.
Sufficient emphasis is also not being given to skilled technical
training, and there is little indication from the Plan that signif-
icant advance in the area of education will be achieved during the
Plan period.

It has been found that skilled training for industry can be
carried out quickly and efficiently in relatively short training
courses. The Development Plan in acknowledging that there is a
shortage of skilled labor in the country proposes to import such
labor and in the meantime undertake such training as is necessary
to provide sufficient local skilled labor to meet the demand. But,
the impression one is left with is that such training takes a long
time and that it would not be possible to meet the demands of industry
over the short run. This is an erroneous conclusion.

With the high literacy rate of the overall population in Belize
and as English is the dominant language, it should not be difficult for

workers to absorb such training. Many companies also prefer to put

103

workers through their own training program, rather than employing
workers who although already skilled, may have developed 'bad habits'
in the course of their past employment.

While the Development Plan is skeptical about the available
supply of labor to meet the projected demand, in fact the population
data show that there is little factual support of such a view. In
the light of the high population growth rate, the relatively low
female labor force participation rate, there is little reason for
Belize to consider importation of labor. That is except for the
few highly skilled technicians and possibly managerial personnel
which may not be available.

There is no shortage of labor among the population of working
age and with the right incentives, a sufficient increase in the labor
force could easily be drawn from those in the former category. The
main source of increase in the labor force could come from the female
sector and there are indications that the Belizean female is quite
willing to undertake industrial employment.

The proposal to encourage capital intensive industrial devel-
opment should be seriously evaluated in the light of adequate labor
force data. With the high rate of population growth, extensive capital
intensive production could result in high growth rates in the economy,
but yet not result in sufficient increase in employment opportunities
to keep pace with the number of entrants into the labor force.

The decision to encourage industrial development mainly in

the urban areas will not help to stem the drift of population from

104

the rural to the urban areas. If the country is to develop its
agricultural industries, then it will be necessary to halt the urban
drift, and clearly one way of doing this is to provide employment
opportunities in the rural areas. It will be difficult enough to
change the attitude of the population in general towards agriculture,
and the urbanization of industry will not enhance such attitudinal

change.

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS OF DEVELOPMENT POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Part of government's development policy for Belize aims at
improving the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of the economy.
Where possible new industries will be developed by the introduction of
improved technology and increasing worker productivity. Of paramount
importance for the success of such a policy is the availability of
labor, in both its quantitative and qualitative dimensions.

Quantitatively the labor force must be large enough to meet the
projected demand for labor, or there should be a 'pool' of unemployed
willing and available for work. Qualitatively that labor force should
at least be literate, having received basic primary education. Basic
formal education is a prerequisite for various kinds of training. Such
education prepares the way for the building of a skilled labor force,
which is necessary if a policy of industrial development is to be
successful. The ideal situation would be to have a relatively large
proportion of the labor force as skilled labor, but in developing
countries that is unusual. The general trend in most developing
countries indicates an increase in the skill level of the labor

force as industrialization progresses.

105

106

The Need for an Industrial Labor Force

 

Harbison has stated that:

A country which commits itself to accelerated growth

needs a strategy for development. . . . It must emphasize

industrialization, but at the same time it must modernize

agriculture. It must invest wisely in things and people.1

The size of the industrial labor force in Belize is relatively

small since there are few industries. Although there is no specific
data available, from Table 17 the category 'Production and related
workers . . .' accounts for 23.7 percent of the economically active
population. Most likely not all persons classified under that category
are engaged in industrial employment, therefore it would be safe to say
that the industrial labor force accounts for less than 23 percent of
the economically active population. In many developing countries,
due to the absence of a broad industrial base, the overwhelming
proportion of the workers are unskilled. Belize is no exception
according to the following statement in the 1977-1979 Development
Plan:

A hindrance to rapid growth, is a shortage of adequate

quality and supply of skills at every productive level,

particularly in intermediate and lower areas of economic

activity.2

Galenson has observed that, "low labor productivity is indeed

characteristic of underdeveloped economies, and the skill factor is

 

1Frederick H. Harbison, "Human Resources Development Planning
in Modernising Economies," p. 2.

2Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 11.

 

107

undoubtedly a contributing cause."3

Therefore in placing emphasis

on industrialization there will be increased demand for a quality of
labor which is already in short supply. The obvious way to satisfy
that demand is to increase the size of the industrial labor force in
Belize. In a study of the British West Indies published in 1958,
Knowles stated that "the present industrial labor force, therefore
represents the cream of the entire labor force in intelligence, edu-
cation, and industrial experience."“ The preceding statement by Knowles
could imply that any attempt to expand the industrial labor force would
result in recruitment of labor which is considered less than the 'cream
of the labor force,‘ but that was twenty years ago.

The recruitment of labor from among those unfamiliar with the
discipline of industrial work could create problems such as high turn-
over or absenteeism. But the effects of acculturation on new recruits
to the labor force should not be ignored as that effect may be strong
enough to offset the expected high turnover and absenteeism.

Studies carried out in Peru and Nigeria have indicated that
the adaptability of workers, previously considered ill-suited to
industrial labor, presented less difficulty than anticipated.5 In

addition to those studies, Aronson (see page 37) found that a problem

of labor commitment did not develop among Jamaican workers employed in

 

3Galenson, Labor and Economic Development, p. 4.

 

1'William H. Knowles, "The British West Indies," Labor and
Economic Development, ed. Walter Galenson (New York: John Wiley 8
Sons, Inc., 1959), p. 268.

 

5See Sutcliffe, p. 127.

108

the bauxite industry, although a large percentage were from the
rural areas of Jamaica.

The present Development Plan for Belize emphasizes industrial—
ization and anticipates an increased demand for industrial labor. With
the current shortage of such labor, there is a need for an increase in
the industrial labor force. It is also necessary to take into account
the projected expansion of services provided by the public sector which
will also lead to increases in the demand for skilled industrial
workers.

There are three main attributes which are expected of an
industrial labor force viz., a certain level of efficiency, productivity
and commitment. To some extent the productivity of labor in developing
countries is usually low in comparison to that in the industrialized
countries. That low level of productivity is generally due to the
combined effect of the very low capital to labor ratio and the shortage
of trained and experienced management staff. Hirschman while confirming
the low level of productivity in developing countries argues that such
productivity is less marked in industries using machine-paced opera-

6 The reasoning is that with machine-paced operations the

tions.
quality and behavior of the labor force has less influence on output.
The importance attributed to the effect of capital intensive

industry on the quality and efficiency of the labor force has not gone

unnoticed. Some developing countries have felt that by increasing the

 

6A. 0. Hirschman, The Strategy of Economic Development
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958), p. 152.

109

capital to labor ratio, an automatic increase in productivity and
to a lesser extent efficiency of the labor force would result.
While both results may occur, there should be careful evaluation
of the possible effects of such a decision on overall current and
future employment levels. Increased capital input while having
positive effects on the technical need to increase productivity,
may adversely affect the social need to increase employment.

The commitment to an industrial type of environment has not
been seen as a problem in the Caribbean. As far back as 1958, Knowles
pointed out that the attitude of the West Indian towards industrial
labor is not the result of cultural conditioning:

Change the employment pattern and the attitude toward
work will change. .

It is a common observation that West Indians prefer
factory to agricultural work. Their aptitude and liking
for anything mechanical is often observed. West Indians
demonstrated their ability and desire for industrial
employment in their work record in the United States
during World War II and their work on United States
military bases in the Caribbean.7

There has been no indication of any cultural or other changes
among West Indian workers which would affect the development of a
committed industrial labor force. This also applies to workers in
Belize, especially considering the early involvement of the Belizean

workers with the forest industry rather than the agricultural

plantation.

 

7Knowles, "The British West Indies," p. 268.

110

Policy Guidelines for Developing;an
Industrial Labor Force

 

 

Once it has been determined that there is a need for an
industrial labor force, it is necessary to determine whether there
is a policy to guide the development of such a labor force. The gov-
ernment's Development Plan is the basic document wherein one would
expect to find the existing guidelines for the development of an
industrial labor force. The Belize Development Plan includes planning
for both the public and private sectors, but as far as the latter is
concerned, the Plan is more a forecast of expectations than actual
planning.

Over the short-run the 1977-1979 Plan states that in order
to meet the demand for skilled labor, "an immediate requirement is an
inflow of skilled manpower."8 The Development Plan is not specific on
the exact skills which will be required but it does state the need for
managerial and technical skills. Some of the industries which have
been mentioned are (a) food processing including meat and meat products,
(b) wood and wood products, (c) electronics and electrical accessories
and (d) rubber and plastic goods, toys, etc. The Plan also calls for
an increase in the production of animal feeds; sugar; citrus products;
fertilizers; metal products, nails, bolts, nuts, etc.; and an investi-
gation into the development of paper and wall board manufacture.

The development of new industries and the expansion envisaged

calls for a variety of skills, some highly technical, others not so

 

8Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 11.

 

111

technical. There will also be a clear need for trained supervisors
and managerial personnel.

In the long-run the Development Plan provides for "training of
managers and technicians."9 Other skilled training for industry would
take place through planned expansion in the current vocational training
program, and through variation in the secondary school curricula to
emphasize technical education. However with government in full control
of only four of the country's twenty-one secondary schools, there is no
indication of how the anticipated curriculum changes will be achieved
in the seventeen private denominational secondary schools.

Organizations in the private sector which could be effective in
contributing to the development of an industrial labor force in Belize
are the Chamber of Commerce and the Employers' Association. In the
past they have sponsored short courses for retail clerks and typists,
but~such courses have been organized on an ad hoc basis. Experience
has shown that some firms in Belize, on their own initiative, are
prepared to undertake skilled training of their employees to meet
their individual needs. Most formal training institutions are pro-
vided by the private authorities as part of the country's educational
system. Another aspect of improving the skill requirements in the
industrial sector would be to encourage joint participation by firms in
that sector in the training function. An agency could be established
to coordinate such training comprising representatives of employers

in the private and public sectors and the trade unions.

 

91bid., p. 29.

112

In the beginning the role of such a body may be purely advisory
to the vocational training institutions on the type of training which
should be carried out at such institutions. Working in conjunction
with the government's manpower service, the employer representatives
through their connection with other employers would be able to point
out areas in which shortage of skills are occurring, or are likely to
occur. Looking into the future, the agency should be encouraged to
investigate the possibility of financing training costs from a levy
or payroll tax, both in the public and private sectors. Colombia has
developed a very successful training scheme for workers in the indus—
trial, commercial, agricultural, mining and catering fields, financed
by that type of tax.10

However the 1977-1979 Development Plan sets out vague guide-
lines for achieving the development of an industrial labor force in
Belize. The Plan clearly points out the need for an increase in both
quality and quantity of the labor force to meet the demands of its
program of industrialization. In the short-run the Plan calls for
importation of skilled labor, in the long-run, changes in education
should lead to increased availability of skilled labor.

The 1964-1970 Development Plan advocated a similar policy,
yet in 1977 the new Plan shows that the situation had not changed,

i.e., the skill shortage still exists. There is thus an absence of

 

1°See International Labor Office, Towards Full Employment.
A Programme for Colombia (Geneva: International Labor Organization,
1970).

 

 

113

dynamic policy measures to develop an industrial labor force. Instead
the Plan is dependent on changes in an educational system whose
organizational structure, curricula and pedagogical methods are
inadequate to successfully enhance the development of an industrial
labor force.

Factors Affecting the Supply of an
Industrial Labor Force

 

 

According to Rees, the classical economists in discussing labor
supply were concerned with the forces that determine the size of the
population of working age and, especially, the effect of changes in

11 Not much was said

real wages on the growth of this population.
about the amount of work supplied by a given population. Rees goes
on to point out that "labor economists now define the supply of labor
as the amount of work supplied by a given population."12
In examining the above definition of labor supply it is expected
that the following factors would affect the supply of an industrial
labor force in Belize:
a. the labor force participation rate;
b. the number of hours people are willing to work per day,
week or year; and

c. the level of skills which workers bring to their jobs.

These three factors will therefore be discussed below.

 

11Albert Rees, The Economics of Work and Pay (New York: Harper
6 Row, Publishers, Inc., 1973), p. 3.

 

12Ibid., p. 3.

114

The Labor Force Participation Rate

 

Labor force participation rates in Belize have already been
examined in Chapter II, where it was found that in 1970, the male and
female participation rates were 93.1 and 20.4 percent respectively.
That information was based on the 1970 population census data.

One of the most important factors affecting labor supply is the
labor force participation rate. Yet an examination of the 1977-1979
Development Plan for Belize shows no mention of labor force participation
rates. It is surprising that although the Plan calls for an increase
in the supply of labor, there are no data on the participation rates of
males and females, or the participation rates among various age groups.

There are a number of variables which can affect the labor
force participation rate and these can be briefly listed as follows:

a. age,

b. sex,

c. marital status,

d. whether or not the individual is the head of a household,

e. educational status and the age at which the individual leaves
school,

f. racial or ethnic group to which the individual belongs, and

g. availability of jobs.

In planning for industrial development in Belize the Development
Plan should have taken into consideration the variables listed above.
Those variables become even more important as the Plan indicates a

need for the development of an industrial labor force. They could

115

all have an adverse or a positive effect on labor force participation
rate which in turn affects the labor supply. The overall health of

the population is recognized as important to labor force participation,
although it has not been mentioned in the variables listed above; health
will not be discussed explicitly in this study.

The Development Plan predicts that by the end of the Plan period
in 1979, there will be a shortage of some 6,100 workers in meeting the
projected demand for labor. This researcher feels that that projected
shortage has not been supported by accurate statistical data (see pages
97-99). Moreover, it is felt that any shortage in labor supply in
Belize could be met through encouragement of an increase in the female
labor force participation rate. A combination of increased demand, a
rise in wages and adequate training could induce more participation
in the labor force by females.

The country should make full use of its human resources and
it is important to note the high imbalance between the male and the
female labor force participation rate in Belize. While the principle
of equality in conditions of employment has always been maintained in
all government and quasi-government employment in Belize, in the private
sector there have been instances of sex discrimination.

Such discrimination has been particularly prevalent in the
retail trades which are not unionized. Trade unions have found it
difficult to organize retail clerks, not due to anti-union employers,
but because of the high rate of turnover among such employees and to

a certain extent union apathy. The absence of unionization, or some

116

other method of representation for the many female workers in the
retail trades, has adversely affected the level of wages in that
sector.

Since the labor force participation rate for men in Belize
is relatively high at 93.1 percent, the planners should study those
factors which have been significant in leading to an increase in labor
force activity of women. In order to study such factors it is necessary
to have an adequate data base regularly supplemented by new statistical
information. Unfortunately, in Belize there is a general absence of
statistical data. Government reports are slow in being published and
the methods of collecting and reporting data are not uniform. If
modern economic analytical tools are to be utilized in development
planning in Belize, organized data collection must be given priority
by the government's planning agency.

The Soviet Union has succeeded in having women account for
51 percent of all workers and employees.13 It is acknowledged that
the Soviet Union's social, economic and political systems are quite
different from those in Belize. But it must also be remembered that
60 years ago the Soviet Union was classified as economically backward.
Today it has established itself as the world's second largest economic

power.‘“

 

13Paul R. Gregory and Robert C. Stuart, Soviet Economic
Structure and Performance (New York: Harper 6 Row, Publishers, 1974),
p. 213.

 

 

'“Ibid., p. 2.

117

Commenting on the speed of Soviet industrialization, Simon

Kuznets writes:

As in all countries, economic growth in the USSR meant a

decline in the shares of national product originating in,

and labor force attached to, the A [agriculture] sector.

But the rapidity of this shift was far greater in the USSR

than in the other developed countries . . . the shift of

labor force out of agriculture of the magnitude that

occurred in the USSR in the 12 years from 1928 to 1940

took from 30 to 50 years in other countries . . . and the

same was true of the decline in the share of the A sector

in national product. A comparable shift took from 50 to

60 years in most other countries.15

Many developing countries see industrialization as the way out

of the vicious circle of economic backwardness and poverty. Should
they emulate the Soviet command-type economy or the western market
system? The latter system has been tried in countries in Africa and
Latin America, yet after many years, few of those countries can be
classified as industrialized. It could well be time for a change,
not a total adoption of one system, but a combination of the more
useful features of both models. In their thrust towards industrial
development, planners in Belize should recognize that models of economic
development, whether of the Soviet type or the capitalist market model,
are not a development panacea. They must be evaluated for their

strengths and weaknesses and the bearing these will have on specific

development problems.

 

15Simon Kuznets, "A Comparative Appraisal," in Economic Trends
in the Soviet Union, eds. Abram Bergson and Simon Kuznets (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), pp. 345, 347.

 

 

118

Variation in Hours of Work

 

The amount of labor which workers will supply depends upon
the number of hours per day or per week which they are willing to
work. But as Marshall et al. point out, the data relating to hours
of work should be used with caution in relation to their effect on
labor supply. They go on to state that such data: ". . . reflect
not only the amount of labor supplied but the amount demanded, simply
because in most instances workers can supply hours only if firms want
to buy them.”16

The issue of hours of work supplied is, however, important,
in considering labor supply. Employers establish a certain number
of hours for a particular job, but that does not mean that every worker
will agree to supply his labor full time for that job. Many workers
may wish to work only part-time and, sometimes the employer fills one
full-time job with two part-time workers. Students and certain sectors
of the female labor force generally exhibit a desire for part-time
employment due to the nature of their other commitments, e.g.,
studying and child-care respectively.

In further consideration of the variation in hours of work
supplied, the individuals supply schedule of working hours is important.
If that supply schedule is backward bending as in Figure 3, that is an
indication that an increase in wages might_result in a decrease in the
amount of labor supplied. The concept of the backward bending supply

curve has an important bearing on wage rates in some developing

 

16Marshall, Cartter, and King, p. 210.

119

 

Wages
:2
”U

 

 

 

H

Hours of Work

FIGURE 3. BACKWARD BENDING SUPPLY CURVE.

countries. Using the rationale that with high wages workers would
supply less hours of work, some employers deliberately kept wages low
in the expectation of maintaining a stable supply of labor.17
The issue of an appropriate wage to maintain the required supply
of labor has not been conclusively decided. But it has been found that
as wages are increased, although certain individuals may change the
number of hours worked, the reduction in hours has attracted workers
not already employed in the particular sector. Marshall et al. have
stated that:
. the wage policies pursued in developing countries
should be evaluated primarily in terms of their consistency
with long-run development plans. . . . Only in the extreme
short run is the supply schedule of hours typified by the
typical individual labor supply schedule . . . although
individual supply schedules may be backward bending, this

does not permit us to make inferences regarding the shape
of the aggregate supply schedule of labor to a sector of

 

17See Elliot Berg, ”Socialism and Economic Development in
Tropical Africa," Quarterly Journal of Economics 68 (November 1964).

 

120

the economy, since this reflects both changes in the
number of hours the average given person works and the
total number of workers seeking employment.18

There are three other variables in addition to wages which
also affect the number of hours which the individual will agree to
work. These are occupations where the hours are determined by employ-
ers' preference, technological requirements, and collective agreements
with trade unions. The situation in Belize is that in most occupations
employers' preference prevails and there is little opportunity to adjust
the weekly hours of work. Thus it would seem that employers would find
it easier to hire workers who prefer the required length of the work
week, than workers who object to it. Presently the role of technolog-
ical requirements in determining hours of work for an occupation in
Belize is almost negligible. One could therefore expect technological
requirements to have little effect on the hours of work and consequently
the labor supply.

Trade unions, which are the third variable, are relatively weak
in Belize. In 1976 of an estimated labor force of 39,000 total trade
union membership was approximately 5,886 or a unionization rate of
15 percent. According to Fleisher:

. even though it is likely that unions often raise the

relative wage rates of union members and have a negative
effect on average hours, it is unlikely that these forces

induce a bias in the observed relationship between wage
rates and average hours worked by occupational groups.19

 

18Marshau, Cartter and King, p. 211.

19Belton M. Fleisher, Labor Economics Theory and Evidence
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1970), p. 61.

 

121

The overall effect of trade unions on hours of work among occupations
in Belize would clearly be insignificant. Government is the largest
single employer in Belize and there is no collective bargaining with
any of its employees.

Although trade unions are currently weak, it could be antici-
pated that with increased industrialization, there is the possibility
that unions may also increase their activities. But as far as the
supply of labor is concerned, the individual supply schedule of

working hours should have a negligible effect on overall labor

supply.

The Supply of Skills

 

The 1977-1979 Development Plan has acknowledged that there is
a shortage of skilled labor in Belize (see page 97). If that shortage
is not to hinder planned industrialization, efforts should be made to
ensure an adequate supply of the skills required. Skills may be
acquired either through schooling or through programs of formal
or informal on-the-job training.

For its part, government has proposed in the Development Plan
that the present student enrollment of 400 at the Belize Technical
College be increased to 540 over the three-year Plan period. In
addition to the expansion of the Belize Technical College, it is
also proposed to provide more facilities for vocational education.

The importance of vocational education appears to be recognized by
the government, but little attention has been given to such education.

The present institution has serious shortcomings (see page 58).

122

Although the Development Plan calls for a 100 percent increase
in the vocational school enrollment, as far as the writer has been able
to determine, no steps have been taken to provide the facilities to
meet the proposed increased enrollment (see pages 58-59). Most of
the skilled labor which will be required for the agricultural and
manufacturing industries must be produced by the formal education
system, viz. Secondary and Junior Secondary schools, the Belize
Technical College and the Vocational Training Center.

The Belize Technical College and the Junior Secondary Schools
are government institutions and have the physical capacity to increase
their enrollment. But additional staffing may be necessary to cope
with the increased student bodies.

However, all the other secondary schools are privately managed
denominational schools and government has little influence over the
curriculum. Tuition and other fees are charged at all those secondary
schools at approximately Bze $200 per annum. When the per capita income
of Bze $1,000 is taken into account, it is clear that not many people
in Belize can afford to send their children to secondary schools.

Government scholarships to the private secondary schools are
few and there is strong competition to win one of those scholarships,
which cover mainly tuition. If the private secondary schools are to
participate in providing some of the skills necessary for industrial-
ization, government will have to take a more active role in determining
their curriculum. In addition, more scholarships should be awarded to

deserving candidates.

123

The government's plan for education at the primary and
secondary level has been far from successful. According to the
1964-1970 Development Plan, at the primary level there was one
qualified teacher to seventy pupils and one probationer (unqualified)
teacher to fifty-seven pupils. The Plan proposed that by 1970, the
teacher/pupil ratio should be one trained teacher to forty pupils and
one untrained teacher to fifty pupils. By 1975, the situation had
deteriorated, and there was one trained teacher for every seventy-five
pupils and one untrained teacher for every forty-two pupils.2°

At the secondary level, the 1964-1970 Development Plan stated:

Just over 2,000 boys and girls are receiving a secondary

education in the country. This is below the requirements

for a developing country . . . by 1970 the country would

need to multiply its secondary school enrolment four times

to meet the desirable target of one child in secondary

school for every five in primary school.21
The plan then went on to propose the modest figure of 6,550 pupils in
secondary schools by 1970. Instead, in 1975, the total secondary school
enrollment was only 5,200 students. The section of the Development Plan
which deals with education does not indicate a coordinated approach to
education at the different levels. With the high population growth
rate, the enrollment in primary education is increasing much faster
than at the secondary and higher levels.

If the education system is to be effective in providing

graduates with the capacity to develop the skills required by an

 

2°Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 54.

 

211bid., p. 100.

124

industrial economy, then the quality of education in the schools will
have to be improved. Shortcomings in the curricula at both primary
and secondary levels have already been pointed out in this study.

In 1963 there were 108 trained teachers (i.e., graduates of a
teachers' training college) in the primary school system. That
number increased to 428 by 1975; while that increase might seem
impressive, it reflects an average of only 32 additional trained
teachers per annum over the ten-year period.

In 1964, the UNESCO Educational Planning Mission to Belize

stated that:

The outlook for the development of the British Honduras
economy is now distinctly promising, but there are serious
deficiencies of skills which, if not rectified, will retard
the pace of development and limit the participation of

native British Hondurans in that development. These
deficiencies directly involve the educational system.

22
Thirteen years later in 1977, the Development Plan reminds us that

the situation is still the same (see page 106) as reported by the
UNESCO Mission in 1964.23 It is alarming to note that the serious
skill deficiency reported by the UNESCO Mission in 1964 is still
prevalent. Even more alarming is the small number of trained teachers

in the primary schools; in 1975 there were 428 trained teachers in

comparison to 762 untrained teachers.2“

 

22United Nations, UNESCO, Report of the Educational Planning
Mission to British Honduras, p. 6.

 

 

23Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 11.

 

2“Ibid., p. 19.

125

The unsatisfactory trained teacher/pupil ratio coupled with
the fact that the content of education at almost all levels has not
been attuned to cultural, social and economic background of the country,
has resulted in education which has little bearing on the likely future
manpower needs of the country. Of course that result is not totally
unexpected, since little attention has been paid to manpower planning
in Belize.

The supply of skilled labor will present some difficulty for
the program of industrialization. But the situation is not hopeless.
Industrialization will not be achieved in a short time-frame and this
allows some time for training to take place in order to reduce the
imbalance of unskilled to skilled labor. The strategy should be to
encourage the employing institutions to undertake most of the training
required by their employees. In an industrial setting that training
will generally be specific training and most firms are usually willing
to undertake such training. Formal education and training are two
different processes. Government is mainly responsible for the former,
and a sound education is a prerequisite for various types of training.

Strategies for Developipg an
Industrial Labor Force

 

 

The development of an industrial labor force clearly emphasizes
the importance of the human factor in the overall process of industrial-
ization. The rate of industrialization and the possibility of success
in achieving such industrialization depends in no small measure upon a
country's human resources and their potential for development. Kuznets

has stated that:

126

The major capital stock of an industrially advanced country

is not its physical equipment; it is the body of knowledge

amassed from tested findings and the capacity and training

of the population to use the knowledge effectively.25

During the process of developing an industrial labor force,

the supply of labor will be drawn from both the urban and the rural
sectors. Of the estimated population of 139,187 in Belize in 1975,
54.2 percent or 75,466 persons were classified as living in the urban

26 These data have an important bearing

areas, i.e., towns and cities.
on the strategy for developing an industrial labor force. As far as
education is concerned it has generally been accepted that particularly
in developing countries the quality of education obtained in the urban
areas is superior to that in the rural areas. That factor also has an
effect on migration to the urban areas.

The strategies for development of an industrial labor force in
Belize will therefore be considered under the following four broad

headings, viz.,recruitment of labor, education and training, mobility

of labor, and commitment of labor.

Recruitment of Labor

 

The government's Development Plan for Belize over the period
1977 to 1979 anticipates a shortage of skilled labor to meet the demand

of its projected industrialization program. This would indicate a tight

 

25Simon Kuznets, "Towards a Theory of Economic Growth," a paper
read at the bicentenary celebration of Columbia University, New York,
1954.

26Government of Belize, Annual Abstract of Statistics, 1975,

127

domestic labor market for skilled labor and as the Plan suggests,
that demand should be satisfied by importation of labor.

In the past the private sector of Belize has been able to
meet its demand for labor without governmental assistance. But if
it becomes necessary to meet the projected shortage of 6,100 workers
through immigration, systematic control of such immigration (amounting
to more than 20 percent of the current labor force) would have to be
established by government. Such control would be necessary to:

a. protect domestic labor by ensuring that all skilled Belizeans
were aware of the job vacancies, and were given an opportunity
to bid for those jobs;

b. ensure that those who were allowed entry into the country
as skilled labor did indeed possess the skills they claimed
to have; and

c. to determine whether the employment of immigrant labor should
be on a permanent or temporary basis, and to safeguard the

rights of immigrants through proper contracts of employment.

Although the actual employment arrangements would be made with
the management of the various industries, government does have an
interest in aiding recruitment. That interest extends to an assurance
that immigrants will be treated fairly and recruited with minimal
disturbance to the economy.

However, prior to the recruitment of foreign labor, the domestic
labor force must be given the opportunity to fill available job vacan-

cies. Government should act as a facilitator and establish employment

128

offices in the main district towns to assist in the recruitment
process. Those centers could disseminate job information and help

in the screening of potential employees. Employers should be required
to prove that vacancies were widely advertised and suitable applicants
were not available locally. Belize is relatively small, and adver-
tisement throughout the country should not present any difficulty.

Employers in the private sector should be encouraged to inform
the government's labor exchanges of vacancies in order that such vacan—
cies may be widely publicized. Since there are no private employment
agencies in Belize, in order to obtain maximum advertisement the
employer should use the employment exchanges, once these have been
established in the main district towns.

Advertisements may also be placed in the daily newspapers,
although these have a limited circulation and are not widely available
in the rural areas. Radio is a more extensive means Of advertising
vacancies as coverage extends throughout the country and broadcasts
are made both in English and Spanish, the two predominant languages
in Belize.

With the firm support of government behind the industrialization
process, the employment service has an important role to play in the
overall employment market. Its duties may become more sophisticated
as industrialization progresses. Those varied duties should include
vocational guidance to young people, the administration of aptitude
tests for assisting unemployed workers obtain suitable vocational

training, and provision of special services for disabled workers.

129

The usefulness of an employment service in enhancing manpower
development can be seen in the functions of the United States Employment
Service (USES). At its inception USES was conceived as a labor exchange
to which was added the function of administering the 'work test' with
the passage of a Social Security Act in 1935. That test was required
to qualify persons for unemployment benefits.

The USES is a federal-state system of employment offices in
which both the federal government and the state government have respon-
sibilities for operating the system. The federal government administers
the system and provides funds to the states, while the states operate
the system and the personnel in the state offices are paid with federal
funds.

There was some reorganization in 1962 with a promise to "cease
operating as a system of labor exchangeslnn:to take on expanded respon-
sibilities as a manpower agency concerned with all aspects of man-
power."27 In addition, there was a further stipulation that:

. each local office must serve as the local community

manpower center and beyond that also function in a strongly
linked nationwide network of offices gperating to meet
national manpower purposes and goals.

With the passage of the Manpower Development and Training Act
(MDTA) and subsequently the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act

(CETA) the employment service got a new mandate to carry out even

broader functions. A major responsibility of the USES is the provision

 

27Sar. A. Levitan, Garth L. Mangum, and Ray Marshall, Human
Resources and Labor Markets (New York: Harper 8 Row, Publishers,
1976), p. 305.

 

 

28Ibid., p. 305.

130

of services to inexperienced youth, the physically handicapped, minority
groups and other disadvantaged workers who have particularly difficult
employment problems. There has also been expansion in the counseling,
testing, and vocational guidance functions of the USES.

Although the system in this country is a two-tier Federal-State
employment service, a more detailed study of the functions of the USES
(which is beyond the scope of this study) would be useful for countries
developing an employment service. There are always lessons which the
developing countries can learn from the experience of the industrialized
countries.

At the outset the employment service in Belize should make a
concerted effort aimed at the recruitment of women. In manufacturing
industries many jobs may not require years of experience as a skilled
worker. Depending on the type of industry,it may be possible to orga-
nize short training courses to provide female operatives, skilled in
specific aspects of product manufacture. For example in Taiwan, the
growth in the manufacture of electronics led to an increase in the
female labor force participation rate.29

As industrialization becomes more extensive throughout the
economy, and the female labor force participation rate increases, the
emphasis on the recruitment of women can be reduced. Once the trend of
increased female participation in the labor force is established, it
should not be difficult to maintain a steady flow of females into the

labor market. That trend will be enhanced by increased vocational

 

29Orville John McDiarmid, Unskilled Labor for Development. Its
Economic Cost (Baltimore: The Johns HOpkins University Press, 1977),
p. 17.

 

 

131

guidance and the planned changes in the educational system, leading
to an emphasis on the sciences rather than the mainly literary
curriculum which presently exists.

Because of a general shortage of managerial and to a certain
extent supervisory personnel in Belize, it is expected that most
employees in those categories will be recruited from abroad. At this
point in time, the country has no alternative to such recruitment. But
the government should obtain a commitment from firms which employ immi-
grant 1abor that they will train and promote Belizeans to supervisory
and managerial posts within their organization. The degree of tolerance
which foreign firms encounter could well depend on their effectiveness
in training and promoting Belizeans to such positions. Of course it is
expected that government will always reserve the right to revoke work
permits for expatriate employees of firms found delinquent in their

training programs.

Education and Trainipg

 

In formulating a strategy for education and training for the
development of an industrial labor force, consideration must be given
not only to meeting the demand for skilled labor in the short-run but
also in the long-run. The basic policy for overall education envisaged
in the current Development Plan is for a general expansion of all educa-
tional facilities. The Plan has also stressed the importance of cur-
ricula reform and the increased supply of trained teachers for the

primary schools.

132

Development of an industrial labor force is a necessity if
the planned program of industrial development is to be successful in
Belize. The strategy in education and training should aim to overcome
the fundamental problem of low educational standards, and the lack of
technical training which would seriously affect the development of an
industrial society.

Belize does not have a problem with functional literacy, the
literacy rate is over 93 percent (see page 27). Universal free primary
education has already been attained. The current priorities are the
reorientation of primary education, making it relevant to the child's
environment, and expansion of the present facilities to ease the over-
crowding in schools. At the secondary level expansion of facilities
is also necessary. Greater emphasis should be placed on teaching the
fundamentals of mathematics and the sciences while providing free
schooling for those who are qualified. The need for education at
the sub—professional and technicians level is absolutely necessary,
but little is being done in these areas. The Belize Technical College
is the only institution which attempts to cater to the education and
training of both the technician and the craftsman.

It has been found that workers who are unfamiliar with machine
technology can acquire reasonable proficiency at repetitive tasks after
short periods of training. At the higher levels in the factory hier-
archy, e.g., technicians and skilled mechanics, maintenance and research
workers, executive and administrative personnel, deficiencies in voca-
tional and technological education become more apparent. It also

requires more extensive education to remedy such deficiencies.

133

Training facilities take time to develop and are costly to
maintain, the training process itself especially above the level of
the operative is not easily compressed into short periods. Training
policy should therefore concentrate on key sectors of the economy while
ensuring that all locally available skilled labor is utilized.

The relationship between general education, vocational and
higher education and training, needs to be carefully planned. There
is a delicate balancing act to be performed in general and higher
education. There should not be undue emphasis on the literary side
of education as this may lead to a surplus of would-be white collar
workers. Yet education should prepare the individual to function
within the environment in which he lives. According to Harbison and
Myers a useful strategy at the secondary level is to

. emphasize secondary schools with an optional range

of courses (i.e. teacher preparation, technical subjects
and university preparation) within a single school rather
than to proliferate specialized institutions. Such a
practice would reduce costs of staff . . . and it might
help change the notion that the best students go to an
academic institution while the less competent are rele-
gated to specialized vocational or teacher training
institutions.30

As the question of costs has been raised above, it is necessary
to point out that vocational and technical training is expensive. A
proliferation of vocational schools should be carefully evaluated and

they should not be allowed to develop as prestige projects. Where

possible encouragement should be given to in-plant training for

 

3°Frederick Harbison and Charles A. Myers, Education, Manpower
and Economic Growth, p. 68.

 

134

craftsmen and technicians as this is usually less costly (at least
to government) than formal education or vocational training in raising
the skill level of employees.

At the early stages of industrialization there may be few
firms available to provide such training for their employees. On-
the-job training is valuable not only in providing the basic skills,
but in developing attitudes in industry which are generally obtained
mainly through such experience.

The strategy for education and training while normally expected
to relate to the preparation of youth for industrial employment, also
has to take adults into account. In Belize, there are many adults who
could take advantage of adult education and training programs, thereby
allowing them to play a more important role in national economic devel-
opment. Training programs for unskilled adults and assistance in
developing new skills among adults who are unemployed or have become
redundant are important from both an economic and social point of view.

Of paramount importance to the education and training strategy
is the supply of qualified teachers and instructors throughout the
educational system. The rate at which training and educational ser-
vices can be increased and the overall output of trainees will all
depend upon the availability of sufficiently qualified teachers and

instructors.

135

Mobility of Labor

 

Labor mobility can be an advantage in the industrialization
process but it should be purposeful mobility.. Mobility from under-
employment to full employment, from overcrowded rural areas to growing
industrial areas, from low wage jobs to high wage jobs, from unskilled
to skilled employment.

Purposeful mobility is not easy to achieve, in effect mobility
is usually ad hoc. Information is passed on in the rural areas of job
openings in the city and there is a flood of people to fill a handful
of jobs. There is evidence that creating one new job in the city may
worsen urban unemployment because information is circulated that jobs
are increasing.31

In Belize such disorganized mobility which leads to open urban
unemployment is undesirable and has a more far-reaching effect than
rural idleness. Public assistance for the unemployed is almost non-
existent; there is no Social Security scheme which could provide any
type of benefits to the unemployed. Migrants from the rural areas who
remain unemployed and have no relatives in the city from whom they may
receive assistance, find it extremely difficult to exist.

Variables such as wage rate differentials between the urban/
modern and rural/traditional sectors have been used to explain the

profitability or nonprofitability of the move from rural to urban areas.

 

31See Michael Todaro, "A Model of Labor Migration and Urban
Unemployment in Less Developed Countries," American Economic Review,
March 1969.

 

136

It has also been said that before moving to a new area, consideration
should be given to the present value of one's future income. Sophis-
ticated models have been used in the literature to indicate the
probability of finding a high wage job or the profitability of
future income, etc.32

The point is that while the executive might take those
variables into consideration in making a decision to move from one
job to a new job, that may not be the case throughout the economy. The
rural nineteen year old, who has worked on the family farm, usually for
no wage, but with lodging and food provided and the occasional share of
cash from the sale of crops, cattle, poultry, etc. has a different
outlook.

That youth sees an opportunity for obtaining wage employment
in the urban area, and in addition to the wages, it presents an oppor-
tunity to move out of the drabness of rural life. He or she also sees
wider horizons and great expectations which primitive farming or sub-
sistence living in the rural areas could not provide. Those factors
may form the basis of a decision to move to the urban area, and not
only the sophisticated calculation of present value of future income.

The industrialization program needs worker mobility, but such
mobility has to be planned in order to prevent an excess flow of workers
into an area. The government employment service discussed above could

be of assistance in providing information to the public on job vacancies.

 

32For a discussion of this, see Albert Rees, The Economics of
Work and Pay (New York: Harper 6 Row Publisher, 1973), pp. 104-110.

 

 

137

In addition, provision of reception and advice centers could also be
provided for workers who are in the process of obtaining a job. Such
services are not usually provided by employment agencies in the indus-
trialized countries, but developing countries also have the capacity
for innovation.

Mobility of workers may be of two types, voluntary and
involuntary. The former results from a desire to obtain an improve-
ment in one's position, while the latter may result from the loss of
a job due to dismissal, redundance, or shifts in demand for a product
or service. Consideration has been given mainly to voluntary mobility
in this section since it is expected that a program of industrialization
in Belize will have a marked effect on that type of mobility. Indus-
trialization should result in increased employment and a lower level
of unemployment in some areas of the country and this will attract

voluntary mobility.

Commitment of Labor

 

Developing an industrial labor force involves the mobilization
of human resources in a variety of new activities. Such resources may
be drawn from the urban as well as the rural areas of a developing
country and will generally have at least one common denominator. In
Belize the majority of workers entering the industrial labor force
will have very limited skills and little experience with the rules,
regulation and discipline of industrial labor.

This new work relationship requires a degree of social trans-

formation on the part of the worker and that transformation has been

138

labelled 'commitment.‘ Commitment entails the performance and
acceptance of certain modes of behavior which are expected in an
industrial setting. Kerr et al. have pointed.out that:
Commitment entails the permanent acceptance of industrial
employment and the acclimatization of the work force at
all levels to factory conditions, urban living, formalized
rule making processes and other demands inherent in the
industrial order.33

As pointed out earlier in this study there is some doubt that
a problem of labor commitment would occur in Belize during the process
of developing an industrial labor force. A problem of labor force
commitment is expected in an economy which is characterized by pre-
dominantly small-scale subsistence farming to which workers are attached
by strong familial or cultural ties. In addition, workers may have
little experience at wage employment.

Due to the nature of the early development of the Belizean
economy, the conditions mentioned above had little influence on the
Belizean worker. The country did not develop from an agricultural base,
but instead through the forest industry. It is safe to say that at some
points in the early history of Belize, agriculture was discouraged (see
page 20). Those conditions did not result in the development of strong
familial or cultural ties to the land. On the contrary, to a great

extent the reverse effect occurred. The limited effect was due to

the existence of a sizeable indigeneous Maya Indian population which

 

33Clark Kerr, John T. Dunlop, Frederick Harbison, and Charles
Myers, "The Labor Problem in Economic Development: A Framework for a
Reappraisal," International Labor Review 71:3 (March 1955): 231.

 

139

has retained their historical ties to the land. However through
the years some cultural assimilation has been taking place and
indications are that even for the Maya Indian close familial ties
to the land are declining.

This does not mean that small-scale subsistence farming
does not exist in Belize. 0n the contrary, there is a high level
of subsistence farming, but such farming is usually coupled with some
type of seasonal wage employment during the period after crops have
been harvested and the next planting season. In effect, this results
in a weaker attachment to traditional rural society than one would
expect in a country which is classified among the developing nations
of the world.

Table 18 gives a breakdown of the economically active
population by occupational group. It can be seen that those
engaged in the agricultural sector form the largest single occu—
pational group. But the data in that table do not indicate the
seasonal shifts in occupation which are known to occur throughout
the country. Many of those engaged in the subsistence farming
would find it difficult to exist solely on the produce from their
farms.

In the contemporary Caribbean context, including Belize,
there has been a tacit dislike for agricultural employment and

implicitly rural life. Studies such as Rottenberg's, dealing

140

TABLE 18

STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION,

MALE AND FEMALE, 1970

 

 

 

 

 

Occupational Group Male Female Total Percent

Professional, technical and

related workers 1,226 1,418 2,644 8.0

Administrative and managerial

workers 153 16 169 0.5

Clerical and related workers 993 754 1,747 5.3

Sales workers 1,549 739 2,288 6.9

Service workers 1,184 1,720 2,904 8.8

Agriculture, animal husbandry

and forestry workers, fishermen

and hunters 10,047 483 10,530 31.7

Production and related workers

transport equipment, operators

and laborers 7,082 756 3,838 23.7

Workers not classified by

occupation 3,263 103 3,366 10.2

Members of the armed forces 6 -- 6 —-

Unemployed 1,425 204 1,629 4.9
Total 26,928 6,193 33,121 100.0

Source: International Labor Office, 1977 Yearbook of Labor Statistics

(Geneva:

 

International Labor Organization, 1977).

141

I.

with unemployment in Antigua,3 and Smith's investigation of labor

35 substantiate that

shortage in small-scale farming in Jamaica,
observation.

Earlier it was stated that commitment involves both performance
and acceptance of behaviors appropriate to an industrial way of life.
Performance of the Belizean as a factory worker would prove difficult
to assess. One reason is the lack of comparability with factory workers
in industrially advanced countries and the limited amount of factory
work now available in Belize. Shortly after World War II, a study was
carried out by the United States Department of Labor on the performance
of Jamaican workers employed in defense industries in the United States
during the war and it was reported that "almost two-thirds of the com-
panies reported that the output per worker for Jamaicans compared
favourably with that for other employees."36

While that study is quite dated, one can assume that societies

generally progress, therefore if a problem of commitment did not surface

in 1945 it is doubtful that it has developed since that time.

 

3“Simon Rottenberg, "Income and Leisure in an Underdeveloped
Economy," Journal of Political Economy 60 (1952): 95-101; and Simon
Rottenberg and Nora Siffleet, Unemployment in Antigpg (Rio Piedras,
Puerto Rico: Labor Relations Institute, University of Puerto Rico,
1952).

 

 

35M. G. Smith, A Report on Labor Sppply in Rural Jamaica.
(Kingston, Jamaica: The Government Printer, 1956).

 

36George E. Sadler, "Wartime Utilization of Jamaicans in United
States Industrial Establishments," Monthly Labor Review 61:5 (1945):
848.

 

142

According to findings in much of the literature, a problem
of labor commitment is directly related to the transition from an
agrarian subsistence society to the highly structured industrial
society. There is no indication of a trend towards an increase of
those involved in the agrarian subsistence economy. In Belize the
trend has been in the opposite direction. In 1960, 40.5 percent
of the economically active population was engaged in agriculture,
forestry, fishing and hunting. By 1970, only 31.5 percent of the
economically active population was engaged in the areas mentioned
above.

According to the occupational distribution of the economically
active population as shown in Table 18, one may expect a slight tendency
towards a problem of labor commitment during the course of developing
an industrial labor force in Belize. That is, based on the fact that
just under one-third of the economically active population is engaged
in what may be classified as subsistence agriculture, although not all
agriculture in Belize is subsistence agriculture.

However, there is some difficulty in determining whether or not
a problem of labor commitment will occur in the process of developing
an industrial labor force. This difficulty is further complicated in
Belize due to the very limited social and economic statistics which are
available. If more relevant statistical data were available, it would
be possible to trace various factors or trends which could point to a

problem of labor commitment.

143

Aronson in his study of bauxite workers in Jamaica also found
it difficult to determine whether or not a problem of labor commitment
would develop among those workers. He came to the conclusion that:

A well-articulated account of the specific circumstances
under which a problem of labor commitment may become sig-
nificant, or of the factors that determine its magnitude,
does not exist, however. Implicitly, the term appears

to refer to an economy in the incipient stages of
development.37

Difficulties will undoubtedly arise in the process of transition
to industrialization. Although we have predictable patterns in our
social relationships, because we are human and not mechanical, those
patterns are not absolutely predictable. But every attempt should be
made to ensure a smooth and unduly painful process of transition from
rural peasant to industrial worker.

Attention should be paid to proper selection and placement,
adequate training, and extremely important--well trained supervision.
These are factors which should not be neglected because industrial labor
with its rigorous discipline, will stand out in sharp contrast to the
traditional setting and patterns of work to which the peasant has been

accustomed. Inadequate adjustment will result in problems of labor

commitment.

Summary
Part of the Development Plan for Belize over the period

1977-1979 deals with industrialization. The Plan aims at the expansion

 

37Aronson, p. 157.

144

of existing industries and the development of new industries both
in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

If the planned program for industrialization is to have any
possibility of being successful, an appropriate labor force with the
necessary skills and commitment to industrial labor will have to be
developed. The Plan itself expresses the need for an adequate supply
of labor capable of meeting the requirements of industrialization.

The Development Plan projects a shortage of labor over the
Plan period and proposes to recruit foreign labor to meet the demands
of industry. While the need for foreign labor is inevitable,especially
in the managerial, supervisory and highly skilled technical areas,
emphasis must be placed on training Belizeans to fill all the needs
of the industrialization program. The female labor force participation
rate must be increased, since in the opinion of this researcher,
Balizean women are not participating to their maximum potential
in the labor market.

Policy guidelines in the Development Plan for developing an
industrial labor force are stated in the form of a forecast of expec-
tations, rather than of specific means to be used in achieving that
particular goal. This chapter has therefore pointed out various factors
which could affect the supply of an industrial labor force and which
should have been mentioned in the Development Plan for Belize. These
factors are the labor force participation rate, variation in the hours

of work and the supply of skills.

145

The strategies for developing an industrial labor force were
then analyzed under four broad headings, viz., recruitment of labor,
education and training, mobility of labor and commitment of labor.
Industrialization is an important part of the wider process of economic
development and will entail a movement of labor from less productive
(subsistence agriculture) to more productive occupations. Peasant
patterns of work are incompatible with the demands of the machine
and factory employment.

The discussion under the four headings mentioned above deals
with the social changes and the technical demands which the process of
developing an industrial labor force will entail. Due to historical
factors in the development of Belize, the development of an industrial
labor force in the light of observations in this study, could proceed

satisfactorily.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the
major issues involved in the development of an industrial labor force in
Belize. It was also intended that, based on the findings of the study,
certain recommendations would be made which could form the basis for
future policy in the development of an industrial labor force in Belize.

With its small land area and low population density, the country
has been struggling to improve the economic and social well being of its
inhabitants. Despite a policy of 'industrialization by invitation' and
legislation providing various incentives, the country has proven to be
relatively unattractive to the foreign investor. As this study has
pointed out, part of the failure to attract foreign investment was
due to the poor economic infrastructure.

In its development plans the government also emphasized indus-
trialization with the desire that it would lead to import substitution,
a reduction in the balance of payments deficit, and increased employment
opportunities. This study has analyzed two of these development plans
(1964-1970 and 1977-1979) as they relate to planning for industrial-
ization. From that analysis, a question arises, whether development
planning has become a fashion, and that is dealt with under a separate

heading.

146

147

However the plan pointed out a persistent shortage of skilled
labor, managerial, supervisory and technical personnel. Little has
been achieved, since the introduction of the 1964-1970 Plan, to increase
the supply of that type of labor although the shortage was already
recognized at the time that Plan was being prepared.

This study has also found that the current 1977-1979 Plan does
not project a specific strategy aimed at developing the skills, whether
supervisory, managerial or technical which are in short supply. In the
short run importation of labor is advocated and in the long run it is
expected that expansion in the education system and changes in the
curricula will lead to an increased supply of labor for an industrial
labor force.

The Development Plans do not project a sense of urgency and
aggressiveness in developing the labor supply necessary to meet the
potential demands of the program of industrialization. Instead the
Plans seem to reflect lethargy and more intended for rhetoric than for
vigorous implementation which could lead to changes in the economic
and social conditions of life in Belize.

There is also the need for coordination between investment in
material capital and investment in human capital. Many developing
countries are held back, not so much by a shortage of savings as by
a shortage of skills. While education plays an important role in
raising the level of skills, education alone will not cure all short-
ages. It is evident that shortages exist in the area of managerial and

supervisory personnel, and certain skilled categories of labor. There

148

is a necessity for the increase of vocational training facilities
in order to meet the demand for skilled labor.

It may be necessary to adjust the reward system among various
skills to ensure an increase in those which are in short supply. The
creation of new jobs to absorb those graduating from high schools and
the universities is also very important. The rate at which a developing
country can absorb the new supply of trained people will depend upon its
general rate of economic growth. The development plan should therefore
give some indication of the anticipated rate of economic growth and
thus allow coordination between that rate of growth and investment

in human capital.

Development Planningf-A Fashion?

 

Development planning has been widely accepted as an essential
means of guiding and accelerating economic and social advancement in
the developing countries. Yet from the diffusion of development plans
among such countries, it appears the national plan has joined the
national anthem and the national flag as a symbol of sovereignty
and modernity.

With the formation of political parties in Belize in the 19505,
more attention began to be focused on economic development than hither-
to. Earlier, under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts, a sem-
blance of development planning was started as the Colonial Government
in Belize was required to project forward for five years, their needs

for assistance on capital account. Government departments were invited

149

to submit lists of projects for financing from Colonial Development
and Welfare funds.

Those lists were then aggregated into what became known as
development plans, after they had been adjusted to fall within the
country's Colonial Development and Welfare allocation. The projects
included in those 'shopping lists' were not based on full analysis
of the economy or on well-reasoned government policies. There was
no planning organization or a statistics agency to assist in drawing
up requests for financing of various projects.

That type of pseudo—planning was carried out during the period
1945 to 1960. With constitutional change to internal self-government
in 1964, the Colonial officials were replaced by popularly elected
representatives of the people. Those politicians upon forming the
government clearly felt that 'development planning' was a good thing
as they immediately prepared a plan for the period 1964-1970.

But the question remains, is development planning a fashion?
Is it done so that governments can comply with the requirements of
international aid agencies, and to present an orderly method for
disposing of foreign aid funds?

The truth is that many developing countries have had develop-
ment plans since the early 19505. India became independent in 1947
and although some planning had been going on prior to that date, it
is convenient to look at 1947 as the start of national development
planning in India. In the case of the former British colonies in

Africa, planning began with their dates of political independence--

150

Ghana, 1957; Nigeria, 1963; Kenya, 1964; Tanzania, l964--to mention
a few. For the former British territories in the Caribbean area, as
pointed out before (see page 65), planning goes back to the Colonial
Development and Welfare Acts of the 19405.

The list could go on and on; almost every country which is
classified as a developing country either has a development plan or
had some type of development planning in the past. Yet those plans
which were intended to increase per capita income levels and the
growth rate of GNP and provide all the other attributes of social
and economic development, seem to have fallen short of those goals.

The economic and social statistics of the developing countries
tell the story--high unemployment, malnutrition, famine in some
instances, high rates of illiteracy and other forms of overt poverty.
In the case of Belize, this study has shown that a large quantity of
the food which is consumed is imported and those imports have been
increasing. Belizeans use imported matches to kindle imported natural
gas which cooks imported food in an imported cooking utensil on an
imported gas cooker. That food in many instances is served on an
imported dining table in a house constructed with imported cement
reinforced by imported steel rods with imported corrugated roofing.

The beverage served at such a meal may well be 'Coca Cola'
or 'Pepsi' manufactured from an imported formula with imported refined
sugar and imported carbon dioxide. There is still sufficient water

available locally.

151

Despite those facts, the development plans promise import
substitution and increased agricultural production to name a few of
those elusive goals. The plans exist and so do the promises for
improvement in the quality of life in developing countries-~they
exist on paper. But these goals soon become a mirage and when they
are not achieved within one plan period, the fashion of the plan
changes, goals are shuffled and out comes a new plan.

In 1964 Belize achieved internal self-governing status,
the final constitutional step prior to political independence. The
governing political party was full of enthusiasm and ready for the
thrust towards independence. A 'viable economy' was all that was
necessary and the 1964-1970 Development Plan, "aims at fulfilling
this requirement."1 Thirteen years later the 1977-1979 Development
Plan points out that "Belize is . . . moving towards independent status

. though there is no agreed schedule for the transition."2 The
enthusiasm has subsided, the planned goals have eluded the planners
and the latter start once again to create a new plan.

Development planning has become fashionable and countries
with a plan seem to obtain the 'nod of approval' from international
agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank as well as
governments and governmental agencies which provide foreign aid.

The developing country without a 'plan' is out of style. Many

 

1Hon. George Price in Foreword to Development Plan 1964-1970,
Government of Belize.

 

2Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 1.

 

152

developing countries have allowed themselves to become dependent
on foreign aid, and a plan is usually a prerequisite for such aid.

If the eradication of poverty was the real goal, why is it that,
in the case of Belize, so little attention is paid to determining the
extent of unemployment, the distribution of incomes, housing shortages
and other forms of poverty? The Development Plan claims that unemploy-
ment in Belize was 4.7 percent in 1970. That figure is based on the
data in the population census which classifies employed worker "on
the basis of any work at all done in the year (prior to the census)
irrespective of its duration."3 That is clearly a most unsatisfactory
definition of employment and unemployment; statistics based on that
definition of employment would be clearly misleading.

No attempt has been made to conduct a proper survey to determine
the extent of unemployment in Belize. Basic economic indices such as
a cost-of—living index are nonexistent in Belize. How is it possible
for effective planning to take place in the absence of such important
social and economic statistical data? There is only one conclusion,
on the basis of existing facts. While the existence of the plan may
exhibit some altruism on the part of those responsible for it, concrete
changes in social and economic development in Belize resulting from the
development planning will remain illusory. Planning as carried out in
Belize, without adequate statistica data is tantamount to attempting

to fit a garment on a body of unknown dimensions. In a country with

 

3University of West Indies, 1970 Population Census of the
Commonwealth Caribbean, vol. 4, pt. 5 (Mona, Jamaica: Census Research
Programme, 1973), p. vii.

 

 

153

limited financial resources one should endeavor to obtain a perfect

fit, rather than making a shroud.

Development of Human Resources

 

This study has indicated that more attention should be given
to the development of human resources in Belize. The shortage of
skilled labor pointed out earlier is a glaring example of the neglect
of human resource development in Belize.

For example, in 1964 the total enrollment of the Belize Voca-
tional Training Center was 60 trainees. By 1977, according to the
official budget for the Ministry of Education, the enrollment had
increased to 70 trainees. The Vocational School caters to male“
primary school leavers who fail to go on to any type of secondary
education. In Belize, that means the school is intended to serve
60 percent of all primary school leavers as the other40 percent go
on to secondary education. The average child leaving primary school
at the end of the eighth grade has almost no chance of obtaining any
type of skill through vocational training. For the female school
leaver the chances are even more remote.

Certain charitable organizations such as the Y.W.C.A. (Young
Women's Christian Association) and the Christian Social Council offer
courses in Home Economics, but with their limited facilities and
finances only a small proportion of the demand for such training

is met. The type of education available at the secondary level and

 

‘’There is no prohibition against females attending the voca-
tional school, but females have never enrolled for any of the courses
offered by the school.

154

the small number of primary school leavers going on to secondary
education has already been taken up in Chapter II.

The formulation and implementation of programs and policies
for the development of human resources within the framework of the
overall development plans have been seriously neglected. Of course
the lack of adequate information on such variables as employment,
unemployment, education and health is an obstacle to providing pro-
grams for human resource development. Population censuses are not
an adequate source of data for planning such programs.

The absence of current manpower data inhibits the preparation
of programs for education and training which accurately take into
account national manpower requirements for the immediate future as
well as in the long term.

The current Development Plan for Belize has pointed out the
shortage of persons with essential skills. Failure to improve the
supply of such persons will be a contributing cause to an increased
rate of unemployment. As the pace of industrialization is increased,
the demand for skilled manpower will also increase and dealing with
the problem from the supply side alone will not necessarily provide
the solution.

It is also necessary to consider incentives such as financial
rewards. In the private sector that problem may be solved through the
supply and demand relationship. But in the public sector, it may be
necessary to relate pay incentives to the demand for specific categories

of personnel in order to:

155

I. contribute to the rising status level of a particular job, and
2. encourage an increase in persons willing to work in areas where

specific skills are in short supply.

The two Development Plans with which this study has been
concerned have both expressed a concern about the development of human
resources. But that concern has not been translated into programs for
developing a corps of competent professionals, technicians and skilled
workers. The speed at which industrialization will progress will

depend on the availability of an adequate industrial labor force.

Recommendations

 

Basic Data for P1annipgfi

 

In Belize there is inadequate and/or an absence of basic
economic and social statistical data. In carrying out the research
for this study it was frustrating to find inaccuracies and many
instances of discrepancies in similar data published by two or
more government agencies.

Development planning and the formulation of basic economic
policy depends on what has gone on before. But it is also necessary
to have up-to-date statistical indicators in order to maintain flex-
ibility in planning and evaluate progress. It is recognized that the
collection of statistical data is not free of cost and this is an
important consideration for Belize with its meager financial resources.
The availability of suitably trained personnel is also another problem.

This study therefore recommends that:

156

A comprehensive plan be drawn up for improving the collection
and dissemination of social and economic statistics and the
provision of appropriate financial, personnel, and other
resources for implementing the plan.

Government departments such as the Department of Labor be pro-
vided with the necessary financial allocation and personnel in
order to allow compliance with their legal obligation relating
to the collection of statistics (see page 39).

A uniform system of data collection should be instituted

and coordination for that system should be carried out by

the Central Statistical Office, or whatever other name that
institution may have.

Legislation should be instituted (where this does not already
exist) requiring employers to submit information on wage rates,
employment levels, safety and health and other data necessary

for developing planning, as specified from time to time.

Manpower Policy

 

During the transition to a modern industrial order there

will be considerable demands on the manpower supply in Belize.
Manpower will be displaced in certain sectors and absorbed in others.
It will be necessary to ensure maximum utilization of the labor
supply in order to reduce possible unemployment or underemployment.
Manpower data are important in planning overall economic development,
but it is considerably more important in the case of planning for

industrialization.

157

Although the importance of manpower data cannot be
overemphasized, the approach in obtaining such data should not
be along purely quantitative lines. Some manpower studies are
designed mainly to determine shortages and surpluses, that is, they
compare the demand for different types of skills in relation to the
present supply, including those in training, thus establishing a
net balance for some target date.

That approach does not take into account variations in the
composition of inputs into the production process. A producer may
increase the proportion of capital to labor, or vice versa and
therefore any projections based on current ratios of skilled man-
power to output will be inaccurate. There is also the future need
for skills based on proposals for implementing planned development
projects. If those projects are not established within the period
specified in the plan, then the whole manpower demand picture will
change.

Manpower policy should be designed to match people and jobs,
and in the context of this study, to develop the necessary skills and
commitment of the labor force to meet the demands of the program of
industrialization. In carrying out this study, it was found that
one of the basic obstacles to developing manpower policy in Belize
is the inadequacy of manpower data.

It is recognized that the following recommendations dealing
with manpower policy will involve certain additional expenditures.

However, it is not the purpose of these recommendations to develop

158

a cost budget. Where new staff will be required this will be indicated
along with the starting salary for that category of staff according to
the salary scales in the 1977 budget of expenditures for the government
of Belize.

The Development Plan 1977-1979 proposed that "available man-
power resources should be reviewed from time to time and the infor-
mation gathered utilized in the execution of national development
schemes as well as for private purposes."5

In planning for economic and social development, one does not
review manpower resources from time to time, instead manpower data are
collected regularly and the review of such data should be carried out
on a continuing basis. In some instances these recommendations will
result in the establishment of new functions within existing govern-
mental agencies. It will also be necessary for certain allocations
to be made in the national budget for the collection and analysis of
statistical data.

The government of Belize will have to decide whether it is
prepared to allocate some of its resources to the development of
statistical data which will be used in the rational planning of
future development. On the other hand, it may decide that such
data are not absolutely a prerequisite for national planning and
continue the current system of planning without adequate data.

The recommendations which follow are by no means elaborate.

They are considered to be the bare essentials required to enhance the

 

5Government of Belize, Development Plan 1977-1979, p. 65.

 

159

collection of manpower data and allow a continuing manpower service

to be established.

1.

A Manpower/Agency/Unit (the name does not really matter) should
be established within the Ministry of Labor. This agency would
be responsible for collecting and initiating the collection of
manpower data throughout the country. The Ministry of Labor
already has sub-offices of the Department of Labor in all the
main district capitals, and it would be necessary to strengthen E

the staff of those offices, so that they could carry out data

 

collection functions for the Manpower Agency.

The data to be collected should include information on
such factors as age structure, sex composition, educational
attainment, labor force participation rates, the distribution
of the labor force by economic activity, and unemployment and
wage levels. Data are also needed on the expected labor force
growth rate, population growth rate and educational output.
This is not an exhaustive list, but merely data which should
be collected on a continuing basis. Decennial population
censuses are not a satisfactory source of such data.

The writer is aware that the term Mgppower as used to
connote both male and female has fallen prey to the movement
for equalization of the sexes. Recently the United States
Manpower Administration changed its name to the Employment
and Training Administration. The government of Belize will

have to decide on the name for the proposed agency, but that

160

should not affect the service which it is intended to
provide.

It will be necessary for the Ministry of Labor to develop
a training policy for existing staff, which will enable them
to better understand their new role in the economic development
of the country. Based on this writer's personal experience in
the Ministry of Labor in Belize, there is a cadre of staff
resources on which to build some of the new functions.

From my experience in the United States of America, it is
the general practice for government agencies to have ongoing
inservice training programs for staff workers. Such programs
deal with a variety of topics relating to the mission and
objectives of the specific agency. Training programs of that
nature would prove invaluable in a developing country such as
Belize since they enable staff personnel to keep in focus the

goals and objectives of their agency.

Employment exchanges should be established in conjunction with
the Manpower Agency. The exchanges would be mainly concerned
with placement of workers, employment counseling, and testing
of workers, especially youths with vocational problems. The
exchanges would also provide industrial services for employers
such as assistance in job analysis, advertisement of vacancies
and assistance in problems of recruitment, selection and

placement.

3.

161

A Vocational Guidance and Counseling Service should be
established within the Manpower Agency mentioned in (1) above.
That service would guide and counsel secondary school students
toward occupations in expanding sectors of the economy or
encourage them to develop skills which are in short supply.

The recommendations in (l) to (3) above all entail addi-
tional staff for the Ministry of Labor. It is estimated that

the following minimum number of staff would be required:

29.1
1 Manpower Officer (to Head the Agency) . $ 8,508
1 Statistical Officer . . . . . . . . . . 6,240
5 Vocational Guidance Counsellors . . . . 31,200
3 Labor Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,128
5 Clerical Officers (Grade I) . . . . . . 22,800

$83,876

The question of financial incentives to motivate entry into
various occupational categories of the labor force where there
are critical shortages should be studied. Use of financial
incentives to influence highly skilled personnel or profes-
sionals to serve in areas where their training or skills are
necessary should also be investigated. While pay of itself
may not be a sufficient incentive, a rise in pay could well
result in raising the status level of a job. While government
may have little influence on incentives in the private sector,
government pay scales are taken into account by the private
sector. Generally wages and salaries in the private sector

in Belize are kept at a higher level than government rates.

162

5. In its industrialization program, Belize will need skilled
labor, highly trained technicians, qualified supervisory and
managerial personnel. There are many Belizeans living abroad
who have the experience, training and education to contribute
immensely to the program of industrialization.

Government should launch a campaign aimed at encouraging
qualified Belizeans living abroad to return home and work in
their own country, thus contributing to its development. A
method of providing special incentives to those Belizeans with
special skills who return home should be developed and perhaps
a tri-partite committee comprising representatives of govern-
ment, the private sector and the trade unions could be

appointed to deal with this recommendation.

6. Efforts should be made to increase the female labor force
participation rate. Vocational guidance and counseling
mentioned above should be available for female youths. Where
there are differentials in wages or salaries between males and
females for work of a similar nature, these should be eliminated

by legislation if necessary.

Education and Training

 

The recommendation for eduation and training has been deliber-
ately placed after that dealing with the establishment of a manpower
agency. Manpower data will allow reasonably accurate projections of

the various types of workers needed to meet the demands of the economy

163

over a period of time. By studying the data it will also be possible
to determine the type of changes, either qualitatively or quantitatively
which should occur in educational facilities to satisfy manpower needs.

It should also be recognized that the effect of changes in the
educational system do not result in an immediate change in the output.
The result of such a change could take years before the individuals
coming out of the education system show a response to the changes.

In Belize, while some changes in the curricula of the primary schools
are gradually being implemented, at the secondary level little change
is taking place.

This study did not deal with the question of teacher training
except in pointing out the shortage of trained teachers at the primary
level. It should be clear that the quality of instruction in the
schools will depend to a great extent upon the qualification of the
instructors. Every effort should be made to improve the trained
teacher/pupil ratio in the primary schools in Belize.

The concept of nonformal education is especially important for
training in the rural areas, for skill development, in programs for
improving agricultural production, improvement of health standards
and similar objectives.

Training can be defined as job-oriented learning and the
individual is generally required to have previously passed through
the formal education system. There are various methods of carrying
out training; for example, there may be classroom instructions,
supervised shop work or a combination of these. But training is

usually oriented towards a specific occupation.

 

164

Since Belize has selected the path of industrialization as one

way of achieving economic development, an industrial labor force is

necessary if the planned goals are to be achieved. It is therefore

recommended that:

1.

Education policies be developed on the basis of information

on the manpower situation in the country. Those policies

should be adjusted from time to time to meet the labor market
requirements as determined by analysis of such manpower data.
Training programs to acquire cn' improve job skills should be
established either at the institutional level, on-the—job, or
some combination of the two. A committee comprising represent-
atives of employers, the trade unions and government should be
formed to coordinate the training programs.

Consideration be given to the establishment of a well regulated
and effective apprenticeship program.

The Vocational Training Center in Belize City should be expanded
so that the enrollment may be increased. Based on projections
from manpower data the number of subjects offered at the center
should be increased. Females should also be encouraged to
enroll for training at the center.

Consideration should be given to the levy of a tax on employers,
both in the public and private sectors to finance the costs of
training programs. Such a tax could be based on the capital
value of the firm and with a certain number of employees,

probably ten or more permanent workers.

 

APPENDIX A

MAP OF BELIZE INDICATING POSITION IN CENTRAL AMERICA

IN RELATION TO THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS

AND NORTH AMERICA

 

APPENDIX A

MAP OF BELIZE INDICATING POSITION IN CENTRAL AMERICA
IN RELATION TO THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS
AND NORTH AMERICA

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

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8;; 1’ ' - Whom
M E X I C 0 J ’ . C
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165

 

APPENDIX B

LIST OF FOOD IMPORTS BY STANDARD INTERNATIONAL

TRADE CLASSIFICATION, 1964

Section

APPENDIX B

LIST OF FOOD IMPORTS BY STANDARD INTERNATIONAL
TRADE CLASSIFICATION, 1964

0--Food

Division

00

Ol

02

03

04

05

06

Live Animals

Meat and Meat Preparations
Hams and Bacon
Meat, Dried, Salted or Smoked

Meat Prepared and Preserved Excluding Sausages

Other Kinds

Dairy Products and Eggs

Milk, Evaporated and Condensed
Butter

Cheese

Other Kinds

Fish and Fish Preparations
All Kinds

Cereals and Cereal Products
Rice

Wheat Flour

Prepared Breakfast Foods
Bakery Products

Other Kinds

 

Fruits and Vegetables 07 Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, Spices
Fruit, Fresh Coffee
Fruit, Canned Tea
Jams, Jellies G Marmalade Cocoa Powder Unsweetened
Potatoes, Fresh Other Kinds
Dried Beans (All Kinds)
Vegetables, Fresh 08 Animal Feeding Stuff
Vegetables, Canned All Kinds
Other Kinds
09 Miscellaneous Food
Sugar and Sugar Preparations Preparations
Sugar, Refined Margarine
Sugar, Confectionery Lard

Other Kinds

166

Other Kinds

APPENDIX C

NOTE ON THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM)

APPENDIX C

NOTE ON THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM)

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an organization comprising
former British colonies in the Caribbean. The Preamble to the agreement
establishing the organization states that: "Member nations hope to
achieve full employment and improved standards of living through the
optimum use of available human and material resources." Briefly the
five stated objectives are as follows:

1. to promote the expansion and diversification of

trade in the area of the organization;

2. to ensure that trade between member territories
takes place in conditions of fair competition;

3. to encourage the balanced and progressive
development of the economies of the area;

4. to foster the harmonious development of Caribbean
trade and its liberalization by the removal of
barriers to it; and

5. to ensure that the benefits of free trade are
equitably distributed among the member

territories.1

 

1M. V. Hinkson, The Caribbean Free Trade Association,
Caribbean Regional Secretariat, 1969, p. 6.

 

167

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aronson, Robert L. "Labor Commitment Among Jamaican Bauxite Workers."
Ithaca, N.Y.: New York State School of Industrial and Labor
Relations, Cornell University, Reprint Series #108, 1961.

Ashcraft, Norman. Colonialism and Underdevelopment: Processes of
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