GREAT BAY--The Government of St. Maarten and the National Employment Services Center, NESC, brought employers and job seekers together Thursday for the National Job Fair 2026, with Government officials reporting strong business participation, on-the-spot interviews and early indications that some applicants were already being hired during the event.
The fair was held at the Aleeze Convention Center and marked the third edition of the national employment initiative. Official information ahead of the event indicated that more than 40 companies were participating, with applicants given access to employers actively recruiting and conducting interviews.
Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina and Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs attended the fair, along with Members of Parliament Veronica Jansen-Webster and Christopher Wever. Head of Labor Affairs Peggy-Ann Richardson said participating companies had shown up “in full force” and described the initial feedback from employers as positive.
Mercelina said the scale of available opportunities demonstrated why the initiative should continue as long as there are vacancies to fill and residents seeking employment.
“As long that we have vacancies, I think we should continue promoting this initiative,” Mercelina said. “The whole idea is we have to combat unemployment in our country. We have to help the people.”
The Prime Minister said employment is directly tied to improving household circumstances and the wider standard of living, particularly at a time when many residents are experiencing financial pressures.
He pointed to more than 800 vacancies across different sectors and urged job seekers to take advantage of the opportunities available.
“What more do we want? It’s your momentum now for you to make use of this opportunity to work on your future,” Mercelina said.
Gumbs: 900 registered job seekers is a number Government should pay attention to
Minister Gumbs said her discussions with participating businesses indicated that turnout had been positive and she expected another increase in attendance as people finished work later in the afternoon.
She was particularly encouraged by the number and diversity of employers represented.
“I see a lot of companies represented, which is really great, and government-related agencies too, you know, the courts, et cetera,” Gumbs said.
She compared the size of Thursday’s fair with employment fairs of previous years where only a handful of companies sometimes participated.
“I remember business fairs used to maybe have five, six companies, and that was pretty much it. But now we fill a room, so that’s good to see,” she said.
Gumbs said, however, that the number she ultimately wants to see fall is the number of people looking for work.
According to information shared with her during activities surrounding the fair, more than 900 job seekers had registered.
“I think that’s a very scary number, to have 900 persons looking for jobs,” Gumbs said.
Her focus, she said, is on whether those applicants actually secure employment.
“Ultimately, you wanna see the persons are hired,” she said. “That’s what we want to see, that the persons that are looking for employment, that are trying to do something positive, that they get that employment.”
The NESC portal showed more than 800 registered candidates around the time of the fair, along with hundreds of active vacancies and dozens of employers using the platform. The portal is intended to continue matching job seekers with employers beyond the one-day event.
Linking education to what employers actually need
Gumbs also used the fair to highlight what she sees as a wider challenge for St. Maarten: ensuring that education and training are aligned with the jobs available in the economy.
She pointed to the activation of the ROA project, which is intended to strengthen the connection between education and labor-market needs.
For Gumbs, that discussion has to go beyond the traditional focus on hotels, even though tourism remains central to St. Maarten’s economy.
She said sectors such as maritime and aviation also power the tourism economy and should receive greater attention when Government considers education, training and future careers.
“We tend to see a lot of hotel management majors and interest in that study. But there’s other things that power our tourism-based economy as well,” Gumbs said.
She said Government must listen directly to employers, including marinas and airlines, to determine which skills they are struggling to find locally.
“For me as minister, I’ve spoken a lot about how maritime and aviation also need attention from both education and labor,” she said.
Gumbs also referred to a maritime-sector initiative organized by NESC several months ago, saying she expects additional opportunities to develop from that engagement.
Employers interviewing and hiring on the spot
Richardson said one of the strongest early signs from Thursday’s event was that employers were not simply collecting résumés for future consideration.
“The businesses have given positive feedback,” she said. “Quite a few more than we anticipated, people were hired on the spot, interviewed on the spot.”
She also highlighted the wider range of institutions participating this year, including the Coast Guard, Police Force, Courthouse, Public Prosecutor’s Office, NV GEBE and other employers that had not traditionally been associated with previous editions of the fair.
SOAB was also present with vacancies connected to recruitment for Government, including VROMI.
Richardson said that variety directly responds to a criticism sometimes heard from job seekers that fairs concentrate heavily on entry-level positions.
“It’s not only entry-level jobs,” she said, adding that higher-level and professional vacancies were also available.
Mercelina made a similar observation after touring the event.
“I do believe that on all levels there are opportunities at this particular moment,” the Prime Minister said. “There is a fit for everybody.”
Mercelina also acknowledged that Government is facing its own recruitment challenge.
He said public-sector compensation can be lower than what qualified professionals can earn in the private sector or abroad, making it more difficult to attract and retain personnel.
“If they realize what government can pay now, it’s relatively less than what they can get abroad,” Mercelina said.
He said one of his priorities is to examine how employment conditions within Government can be improved so that public service becomes more competitive when recruiting skilled personnel.
This time applicants will be tracked
Richardson said one of the most important changes introduced for the 2026 fair is a stronger system for tracking what happens to applicants after they leave.
Every job seeker exiting the event was required to participate in a survey, while a consultancy firm was gathering additional data.
Applicants also received a form described as a “passport,” which recorded which companies they visited and which vacancies interested them.
Richardson said this was deliberately introduced because organizers did not have a strong enough system following the 2024 event to track where job seekers went after initial contact with employers.
“We kinda lost track of them,” she said of the previous edition. “This time around, that won’t happen.”
Government had announced earlier this year that the NESC platform would be used for registration, job matching and post-event follow-up and placement tracking, making the 2026 edition more focused on measurable employment outcomes rather than attendance alone.
The next test will therefore come after the fair, when Government and NESC can determine how many interviews resulted in employment, which vacancies remain difficult to fill and whether the skills of registered job seekers match the needs employers are identifying.
For Gumbs, that information will also help shape the conversation about education and training.
For Mercelina, the immediate objective remains getting more residents into employment.
For Richardson and Labor Affairs, the 2026 fair is designed to ensure that Government can follow that journey beyond the convention center and determine whether the opportunity offered Thursday ultimately resulted in a job.
