Christopher Tufton, Contributor
Our young people need to be empowered by us with education and training, otherwise they will be empowered by the dons and the gangs with guns and ammunition.
BY WAY of context, this is a country that has seen very little growth over the last decade and a half; where unskilled persons outnumber skilled persons by more than three to one; where cost of capital makes us uncompetitive by any standards in any part of the world; and where production costs generally make us uncompetitive.
It is an economy where, according to the World Bank, migration of intellectual capacity, the primary source of entrepreneurship and
creativity, is perhaps one of the highest in the world on a per capita basis, and where the well-trumpeted, record number of foreign direct investments are more focused on takeover and efficiency improvements, and hence not net creators of new jobs.
This is a country where the most common sight on any street corner in the urban and rural communities are young men, with very little or nothing to do.
Yet, the statistics coming out of the government agency conveys an impression that we are solving the unemployment problem.
Madame President, I am not challenging the accuracy of the figures, based on the definition of unemployment used by these agencies. I am challenging the interpretation of the numbers, based on this very definition.
The definition of the labour force, used by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, is 'All employed persons, as well as persons who although unemployed, were looking for work or wanted work and were in a position to accept work.' In October 2005 there were 1,195,500 such persons.
However, many questions arise when we examine the status of persons 14 years and older who are not in school (secondary, vocational and tertiary), who are not homemakers, not incapacitated and therefore incapable of work, but not employed and not seeking work. These are persons who are considered to fall outside the labour force and therefore are not included in the unemployment statistics.
Of the over 665,000 persons 14 years and over who fall outside the labour force, 325,000 fall in the 'did not want to work' category, and this is increasing from 288,000 in 2002 and to 301,000 in 2003.
Is it a coincidence that as this category expands, the official unemployment statistics are declining?
Again I say, I am not casting any aspersions about the credibility of the research agency. I believe they are collecting and grouping data based on specific definitions. However, I am
prepared to say that, given these definitions of what constitutes the labour force, that is, 'someone actively seeking work' in an environment with all the ills listed earlier, I am prepared to say that people can be frustrated out of this category, and therefore, not considered as unemployed although they are not gainfully engaged. I believe many have.
I see it every day. A 19-year-old youth, no skill, no job, no hope, no job search. An 18-year-old girl, no skill, no job prospects, no hope, no job search. A 20-year-old youth, selling sweets or washing cars, no skills, little hope, no job prospects, no job search. Many resort to a 'hand to mouth mentality' for all practical purposes unemployed and underemployed.
Madame President, we need to know more about this category, 14 years and older, that falls outside the labour force, and in particular that 325,000 persons who 'not seeking work'. If they are not sick, if they are not studying, if they are not homemakers, what are they?
I challenge the Government, through its research agency, STATIN, and the PIOJ to probe further, in the interest of truth and better planning, to understand this group.
We need the facts so we can begin to address the problem.
GREATER TRAINING AND YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES
Already we know that for age cohort 19 to 34, unemployment is closer to 30 per cent. We know that training and skilled levels are lacking among most of the workforce. We should not hide from that reality.
Our young people need to be empowered by us with education and training, otherwise they will be empowered by the dons and the gangs with guns and ammunition.
Madame President, social interventions can only be sustained when we have sustainable economic prosperity. Handouts are not a long-term answer to this problem. Crash programmes like Lift Up Jamaica are at best remedial and reactionary. They are unsustainable and do not address the need to create wealth through sustainable economic opportunities.
We have to empower them and then find ways to encourage them to create opportunities for themselves. We have to find ways to maximise the returns on the existing opportunities that we have here.
Taken from the Senate State of the Nation Debate on February 3. Senator Chris Tufton is also a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona.
Next week - Improving Tourism.
