THERE IS a growing indication that many Jamaicans have chosen to emigrate in the current mood of apprehension about the state of the nation. The Butch Stewart salvo about crime and its effects on business is the most strident affirmation yet of the general feeling.A report in Friday's Gleaner gave some measure of what has been happening. Freight shipping companies have reported an upsurge in business from people who complain about the difficult economic times and the violence. While most are said to be from upper St. Andrew and Kingston, the trend is said to be islandwide.
While Jamaicans have always regarded emigration as an option it is cause for concern when so many, mostly professionals, are leaving to live elsewhere in a quest for economic and social betterment. It implies that the majority of the people have concluded that the economic and social policies that are being pursued in the country will not create a better quality of life for them and their only hope is to look outside. The implications for nation-building are obvious. It will be well nigh impossible to inspire a people to strive and sacrifice for the common good if they are bereft of hope.
In another disturbing indicator The Gleaner reported recently that more than half of those who are unemployed have stopped looking for work because they feel there is no hope of ever finding a job. The report cited the 1999 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica to the effect that the number of unemployed persons in 1999 numbered 175,200. The majority of those persons, 58.8 per cent had abandoned the search for jobs. The survey refers to what it describes as "discouraged workers... persons who have stopped their active job search as they have lost hope of gaining employment". The phenomenon is not confined to unqualified persons but includes middle and upper management including university graduates.
Surely we cannot go on like this, something has to give. One might well ask where are the suggested solutions from the thinkers in our three universities, what answers are forthcoming from the private sector, from the church? While we believe that political and economic solutions are a significant part of the answer, there is evidence of a deeper malaise which will take some time to cure.
There is a tendency on the part of the political administration and its apologists to dismiss commentary on the state of the country as the prating of negativists. Surely, this is inspired either by bravado or by delusion, because so long as we refuse to accept that there are problems that need urgent attention the less likely it is that we will take the necessary corrective action.
