Kristen Gyles | Yes to more (high-quality) jobs!

Many have had much to say regarding STATIN’s recent report on the April 2023 Labour Force Survey, which indicated that Jamaica recorded its lowest-ever unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent. The government should get its due.

The unemployment rate has been on a general decline for sometime now, and that can only be a good thing. At the same time, we should be able to acknowledge that even during the pandemic when the country’s economic output had taken a hit our unemployment rate had been trending downwards. This obviously says something. At a minimum, it calls into question the appropriateness of linking the increased employment directly to any economic growth.

There are many factors that have got us to record-low unemployment. One of those factors is, plainly put, the fact that more people are being gainfully employed. We also know that there are many others who are not-so-gainfully employed. This is what has served to temper the excitement and enthusiasm associated with the good news of an all-time-low unemployment rate.

BPO SECTOR

With the recovery of the tourism sector and the rapid yet consistent growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, it’s no surprise that youth unemployment, in particular, would be down to 12.2 per cent as at April 2023 when compared to 15.5 per cent one year before. Young, inexperienced university graduates seem to be the primary targets of the fastest growing sectors in Jamaica, which incidentally are some of the lowest paying sectors. Young people leaving school with over a million dollars of debt just want ‘a work’ – and they want it fast. Unfortunately, they make easy prey for fast-growing industries in need of cheap labour. The ‘cheap labour’ is just a subset of those we refer to as the underemployed.

Last year, around this time, I asked a few BPO sector workers who had recently graduated university, how much they were making at work. They said they were making between $425 and $550 per hour. Even at the upper end of this bracket, they were taking home less than $90,000 per month. Again, let’s be real. Someone trying to recover the over one million dollars spent on tertiary education will not be doing cartwheels in the street upon finding out that their most viable employment option will see them earning peanuts. And if increasing numbers of citizens are getting jobs that underpay and overwork, not only will there be widespread dissatisfaction, but any expected domino effect associated with the increased employment will hardly be felt within the economy.

Fortunately, there’s a lot more to record-low unemployment than the potential for increased national economic growth. Even if we ignore the economics of the issue, there are numerous social benefits that come with a decreased unemployment rate.

Even if the average household does not start raking in more money as an aggregate, higher employment means more people within the household are productive. This is a big deal for a country trying hard to keep its people engaged in constructive, civic activities that take young men off street corners and young women from moving in and out of delivery rooms.

LOOKING FOR WORK

Further, even if money is still scarce for many Jamaicans, a decrease in the number of people outside the labour force might mean that more unemployed people are looking for work. In other words, they are more willing now to give employment a chance. Also a very good sign.

Notwithstanding the numerous benefits to the country, it is not hard to understand why some Jamaicans might appear to have record-low interest in the record-low unemployment numbers. The average Jamaican is concerned about their day-to-day life as a consumer. That is, they are concerned about the rent, the light, the water (absent from the pipe), the groceries, the school fees, etc. If people do not feel that they are any better off financially on account of the growing GDP or the shrinking unemployment numbers, they simply won’t appear very interested. The sad reality is that the lived experience of many Jamaicans differs from the often decontextualised statistics.

Hopefully, the increased employment will trigger some tangible changes that we can all get excited about. Perhaps some wages will face the same inflation that has arrested the supermarket shelves. After all, some employers are already complaining of having too few options for job candidates. Hopefully, this will translate into a willingness to pay workers more in order to retain them.

On the other hand, the government shouldn’t think that it will get high commendations for continued talks of expanding the lowest paying sectors. An expansion of some industries may boost employment numbers and contribute to an increased GDP but again, increasing the number of ‘employed but poor’ people will not generate any excitement. Full employment is an ambitious target, but it’s certainly worth the effort if the jobs being introduced into the economy, are quality jobs.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Email feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com.