Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
THE JAMAICA Productivity Centre (JPC) will now be certifying all future productive incentive schemes that will involve tax exemption and benefits, Labour and Security Minister Horace Dalley said yesterday.
He said Cabinet had already approved the measure, adding that giving the JPC this new responsibility would be an incentive for producers. The minister was speaking at a productivity seminar organised by the JPC at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston.
"We want to have ... the structure in the country that approves, certifies and assesses productive schemes," he said.
He said the ministry has been stressing the need for Jamaica's labour force to develop the skills and competence necessary to ensure competitiveness in a regional market.
WE NEED TO BE PREPARED
"We have to prepare ourselves for a world in which Jamaican products will no longer be offered preferential treatment, and that protectionism and trade barriers will no longer shelter us from the intense competition of the global marketplace," he said.
He noted that the country has to define the concept of productivity and have this clearly understood to avoid the popular mistake that is often made of confusing production, efficiency and effectiveness as similar to productivity.
"Too often workers believe that improved productivity means job loss and that it is an attempt to make them work longer and harder. But productivity is, of course, not about working harder, it is about working smarter," he said.
Newly-appointed executive director of the JCP Dr. Charles Douglas outlined some of the plans the JCP would be embarking on. for this year. Among them, he said, was public education and sensitisation programmes on productivity growth as the single most important strategy for sustainable socio-economic advancement.
