Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle said in order for there to be a meaningful rise in national incomes, there must be an increased level of productivity in The Bahamas.
While speaking at a recent luncheon, Rolle pointed out that a substantial component of the country's National Development Plan (NDP) has been devoted to improving the level of productivity.
Rolle noted a wave of foreign labor has been imported into the country since the 1980s, using this as an example for the need to improve productivity.
"In the 1980s, you would recall, we brought in foreign labor from India to build the Crystal Palace," he said.
"In the early 2000s, we brought in foreign labor from Latin America to build Atlantis.
"More recently we have brought in foreign labor from East Asia to build Baha Mar.
"As a society, we have to change this. Productivity improvements, including training, will help."
While being known for attracting foreign direct investment, Rolle alluded to the fact that The Bahamas has not been able to keep a significant amount of foreign reserves within the country.
"When you look at the downstream benefits of foreign direct investments that we are so good at attracting, it is barely measured in its contribution to the economy because there is a huge point of leakage," he said.
"The Bahamian contractors normally are not the big general contractor. The laborers we have to import. So, when you look at the outflow compared to what we keep at home, it is unacceptable and that really disturbs me."
On the solution front, Rolle suggested the need to continue educating the Bahamian workforce.
"The recommendations in chapter six of the National Development Plan deal holistically with education and training," he said.
"The recommendations range from mandatory preschool for young children, to improvements in basic literacy and numeracy to strengthening science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects, to adult and second chance education.
"There is also an important recommendation around strengthening vocational education.
"Businesses have consistently relayed that the major obstacle to their operations is finding skilled employees."

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