'No huge job cuts'

A LITTLE more than 24 hours before Jamaicans go to the polls to elect a new government, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has pledged that an administration led by him would not impose massive job cuts on the public sector.

"If you are a public-sector worker, I want to assure you personally that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is not planning massive job cuts as the Opposition has been trumpeting," Holness declared during a national broadcast, in his capacity as JLP leader, late yesterday evening.

The prime minister noted that most public-sector employees were engaged in law enforcement, teaching, nursing and medicine. "We need more of these posts, not less. We do, however, want to create a more efficient public service with new systems that will save taxpayers' time and money. We want to work with you to achieve this goal."

During its manifesto launch two weeks ago, chairman of the People's National Party's (PNP) manifesto committee, Dr Omar Davies, put forward similar sentiments, arguing that the axing of 30,000 jobs in the public sector was not feasible.

"An examination of the structure of the service indicates that over 60 per cent of the expenditure on wages and salaries is allocated to services provided in the education, health, security and justice sectors," Davies had said.

"As such, we believe that the answer lies with Government working with the public-sector workers to develop an agreement, which formally links the total expenditure on wages and salaries to a decreasing percentage of revenues and of GDP (gross domestic product). We are confident that this can be done as the historic MOU (memorandum of understanding) signed by workers and the Government in 2004 is a clear indication of what is possible."

Some financial analysts have argued that an aggressive reform of the public sector, including job cuts, was critical if the Government is to meet the wage-to-GDP ratio of nine per cent.

Quizzed about the issue of job cuts during the final of three national debates, Holness had said: "We have to confront the public sector in terms of size and its size relative to GDP - the wage bill."

However, the prime minister did not get the opportunity to complete his response as his time to speak had expired.

Critical areas

PNP President Portia Simpson Miller, in her rebuttal during the national debate, had indicated that three critical ministries in the public sector could not be cut.

"Can you cut education which is critical to the development of the country? Can you cut health," she asked rhetorically before her time ran out ahead of naming the third sector.

Yesterday evening, the JLP leader argued that in the run-up to the 2007 general election, crime was the number-one problem. However, he added that jobs was now the number-one issue. He said his party was sensitive to "this crippling problem".

"We recognise, however, that jobs have been lost. Many graduates are having a hard time finding jobs. This is due in part to the global economic crisis, of which we are all aware," Holness pointed out. He also blamed the current job crisis on the "legacy of the PNP's high interest-rate policy and poor economic management which wiped out an entire generation of investors and entrepreneurs".

Holness said, "We have issued a contract for the construction of a 360MW electricity-generating plant which will create 2,000 jobs in its construction phase."

And despite the loss of more than 80,000 jobs, the Holness administration said it has provided more than 90,000 jobs through overseas employment and other investments.

"More than 80,000 HEART trainees have found employment," he said.