By Andrew Smith, Staff ReporterUNEMPLOYMENT CONTINUES to plague Jamaica. According to the Planning Institute of Jamaica's (PIOJ) 2002 Economic and Social Survey, 170,100 persons are unemployed, or 15.10 per cent of the labour force. The female unemployemnt rate is 20.7 per cent, nearly twice as much as the male unemployment rate, which is at 10.6 per cent. Measures of tackling this issue were discussed by the country's Mayors when they gathered at a recent Editors' Forum at the corporate headquarters of the The Gleaner Company, downtown Kingston.
TACKLING THE PROBLEM
The Mayors all acknowledge that job creation is an issue that they cannot tackle by themselves and that innovative ideas are necessary involving as many sectors as possible. In St. Thomas, Mayor of Morant Bay Joan Spencer sees this involvement in the industrial sector. "A lot of young people are on the street-side and we wish the private sector and Central Government could help us because we have a lot of factory space in the 11-Mile, Yallahs and Springfield area, that need to be occupied," she said.
This desire to involve both
the private sector and the Central Government was reiterated by Portmore's Mayor George Lee. He said that "Central Government has to play a major role, because within the new dispensation of our economic situation, Central Government has the budget, but the private sector has to be the engine of development." He hopes his offices will facilitate this marriage. He currently has an "expert team" looking into the most suitable sectors - tourism, entertainment and/or light industry - to develop.
Mayor Milton Brown of May Pen is looking at the South Coast's tourism potential to provide jobs for Clarendon. He emphasised: "We are not looking at the high rise buildings, we are looking at cottage, house-type industry. The South Coast is pretty attractive, we have a lot of facilities there - we have nice beaches although the sand is not white." Development plans include the world-famous Milk River Spa. Concerning this attraction, he said, "the Government put together a development plan from last year but the takers have not been able to satisfy the Government that what they plan to put there is as, for want of a better word, flamboyant or luxurious as the Government is seeking to have."
In addition to tourism development, he also sees the possibility of industries in central Clarendon. He said that "Vernamfield is one of the best location for industry. We have a large land space for air strip. We actually have an air strip that needs just a little work now
to be used."
GRASS ROOTS EFFORTS
Mayor of Port Maria, Robert 'Bobby' Montaque is pursuing the development of basic industry in the form of cottage industries. This will focus on chickens and sea-island cotton. These were selected because, "chickens - almost everybody know already how to raise them. Sea-island cotton is suitable to our climate, to our terrain, it is easy to do, it is easy to learn (and) the funding is available." Concerning sea-island cotton, he said that in preliminary studies, "the yield in St. Mary will give us 12,000 pounds to the acre (and) it pays approximately US$9 per pound." He added that although this is in a very preliminary stage, "it looks good, it is exciting, we have the available lands and we have the available hands."
Mayor Montaque is also pursuing a programme of entrepreneurial training. The Closworth Maternity Centre has been identified has a vacant location which can be utilised, "to train nurses aids as a part of the whole HEART programme." This is to fill the demand when, "you find people coming to Jamaica to recruit persons, people from the hospital system over the United States, people from the shipping industry and there is not that large pool of trained persons, so we want to begin this training process."
In addition to these programmes, remedial education by retired professionals is also targeted for young people. He said: "We will be tapping into the available retired teachers and nurses because we are looking at programmes that when a person is finished they can begin - rather than getting a job - they can actually begin a business."
However, for job creation to be effectively tackled across the island, innovation and co-operation is necessary. By involving local and central government and the private sector, it is hoped that Jamaica's unemployed rate will fall.
