KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica's government says it is actively pursuing efforts aimed at introducing unemployment insurance for workers as the country Monday observed labor Day.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness delivering Labour Day address (JJIS video)“We are examining the feasibility of implementing unemployment insurance in Jamaica to assist workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a message marking Labour Day which is being observed here under the theme ““Reigniting a National for Greatness : Protect our Heritage and Environment”
He said the initiative would “temporarily provide workers with partial income relief while they search for new employment.
“Additionally unemployment insurance support would facilitate the acquisition of new skills to increase and improve their employability,” Holness said, noting that the most important role of the government for workers “is to ensure that the economy is growing and generating employment’
He said Jamaica is recovering from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and that the local economy is growing with more and more jobs being created.
“Jamaica’s unemployment rate of 6.2 percent in January 2022 is the lowest ever recorded in Jamaica’s history. Inspire of turbulent times Jamaica is heading in the right direction. This shows the strength of our macro economy and the resilience of our labor force.
“However, this recovery is still a work in progress. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine have unleashed the greatest wave of global inflation seen in over 40 years. Import prices in fuel and food are rising in countries all around the world at the same time (and) while we all know that this inflation has causes outside of Jamaica, it still does not make it easy for the average household to absorb,” Holness said.
He said these external shocks were occurring against the backdrop of the island’s long fiscal adjustments “which was secured by the sacrifice of workers which resulted in a rehabilitation of our economy, but had real impacts on public sector salaries”
He said in addition there are many instances where the structure of the public sector compensation “is unfair and inequitable.
“This is so in Central Government as well as in public bodies. The inequities in the structure of public sector compensation are not new,” Holness said, adding it did not arise “overnight”.
“Decades of tinkering with compensation systems without solving fundamental issues are contributing factors. However, this government …has decided to take on this decades old problem because we care about our workers and we recognize that the current structure is untenable”.
Holness said that his administration working in partnership with public sector trade unions made the decision “for us all to engage in the hard work of addressing the structural inequities in public sector compensation through a major public sector restructuring exercise”.
He said it is designed to remove inequities, make compensation simpler and more transparent while ensuring that Jamaica’s finances remain sustainable.
“We recognize that it will not be an easy process, there is pent up anger, mistrust from broken promises and contentious issues to grapple with. However, rest assured your government is listening,” Holness added.
