Don Robotham, ContributorThe episode at the Ministry of Labour at which thousands of uncertified workers turned up for recruitment to construction jobs in Canada was our first reality check. The foray of the new government unto the international capital markets to borrow US$150 million, Omar Davies-style, was another. Those who imagined that our economic problems were simply the product of Dr. Davies's ineptitude are getting a rude awakening.
The new government seems oblivious to a simple fact with which a former head of First Global Finance ought to be familiar: The so-called 'foreign' debt and 'international' capital markets are not foreign at all. At least 80 per cent of these 'foreign' bonds are held right here in Kingston! This sets up a special dynamic in our macroeconomic relationships, the understanding of which is critical to effective macromanagement.
The crisis of the construction workers also raises broader issues. It is intimately connected to the lumpen problem discussed in last week's In Focus article. Parts of the unskilled tier of the construction sector are penetrated by the lumpen, plagued by gangsterism of all kinds.
The term 'lumpen' refers to those strata of society crushed by the juggernaut of economic change. They have been ejected from the old (often rural) economy but have not found a stable place in new formal economic activities. They live by their wits, often resorting to crime.
The lumpen develop a culture adapted to their position in society. Violence and intimidation are their modus vivendi; braggadocio their favoured mode of expression; name-brand clothes, flashy cars and bikes, skin bleaching and bling, their forte. Forget delayed gratification, modesty and respect for punctuality. The old African, Protestant values framework within which most Jamaican are still raised is utterly alien to them.
Although all social classes shade into each other in Jamaica, the lumpen are to be distinguished from the working class, especially the organised working class. They are not to be confused with the hard-working small farmers. Don't mix them up with higglers who also work long hours. The lumpen are certainly not to be identified with members of the lower middle class who may fall just above the poverty line, but who also burn the midnight oil.
The lumpen are not identical with the unemployed they overlap. The lumpen are to be found in the informal sector and among the long-term unemployed, especially those who have never been employed. About 45 per cent of the unemployed in the 15-29 age group, or about 50,000 persons, are long-term unemployed. Of this number, about 63 per cent or 31,500 persons have never, ever worked in any sort of job, formal or informal. Adding on the lumpen part of the informal sector we can estimate that we have roughly 50,000 hard-core lumpen in Jamaica. A comparatively small number but, when in control of our political parties or the state, enough to hold us all to ransom.
jobbing gangs
During slavery, the lumpen were recruited from jobbing gangs and the poor part of the free-coloured population. A friend asked me recently if I had ever noticed a tendency for some of our inner-city 'Dons' to be 'red'? She has a point.
The first huge expansion in our lumpen population came at the end of the 19th century - our first structural adjustment to the global economy, resulting in the collapse of the Jamaican sugar industry. As a result of the free trade and land-monopoly policies of the British after the Sugar Duties Act of 1846, thousands were ejected from the small-farming sector, flooding into Kingston and migrating abroad. This is the origin of our inner-city ghettos in Western Kingston, which were formed at the end of the 19th century. Our inner cities are colonial ghettos - a gift from the British upon which we have improved.
global free trade
It was no accident that the second rapid expansion of our lumpen came with the reintroduction of global free trade in the 1990s. After 1989, when the Jamaican economy was compelled to structurally adjust to globalisation for a second time, there was a huge movement in and out of poverty. Between 1989 and 1991, the per cent below the poverty line increased from 30.5 per cent to the shocking figure of 44.6 per cent of all households - or about 1.2 million Jamaicans! It sub-sequently declined to about 16 per cent by 2006. The result was a deep process of social decay in which lumpen influence insinuated itself into every pore of Jamaican society.
Not all lumpen are recruited from the lower strata. There are also uptown lumpen. These are persons from the upper end of society who have acquired substantial wealth, but from what source?
Often, they attended traditional high schools like a johnny cake but exited as a dumpling - sans certification. Some were depending on skin colour, sports or contacts to get them through. When these proved insufficient, they too were unable to find a firm footing in any part of the formal economy. They became successful hustlers, importing and exporting all manner of contraband. This group is now rich enough to come out of the shadows and to make a brazen bid for political power.
The lumpen, downtown and uptown, are the root of our crime problem - both drugs and extortion. They are the force maintaining the garrisons. Ironically, they are also the root of our police brutality problem - quite a few with a lumpen mentality enter our police force.
The lumpen and their middle-class allies are at the heart of our corruption problems. They corrupt our culture, our economy, our values and attitudes, our social institutions, and our political life.
The influence of the lumpen is enhanced because some sections of uptown society, seeking wealth and power, use them as a political tool. This is true on both sides of the political divide. Without this alliance between sections of uptown society and the lumpen, we would have defeated them long ago.
Workers on a construction site in the Corporate Area. Expanding more low-paying jobs in the local construction sector aggravates and does not address the unemployment problem. Not all lumpen are recruited from the lower strata. There are also uptown lumpen. These are persons from the upper end of society who have acquired substantial wealth ...- FILE PHOTO
Lumpen dominance
The middle ground of Jamaican politics is sick and tired of this lumpen. This middle ground is by no means to be identified with the middle class. This moderate political centre is drawn from a broad cross section of Jamaican society - workers, small and medium farmers, traders, teachers, nurses, doctors, accountants, academics, civil servants, other professionals and business persons. The centre is both urban and rural. Lumpen dominance has left the PNP isolated from this centre. If it remains so isolated, it will wither on the vine.
This takes us back to the striking episode in the middle of last week at the Ministry of Labour. Of all the unemployed in the 15-29 age groups, 74 per cent have no educational certification of any kind 27 per cent have had four years or more of secondary education. This is why I have been harping on the importance of mastering English and skills certification for months now.
The JLP hopes to facilitate a rapid expansion of the construction sector to soak up the lumpen. But as the Ministry of Labour episode proved, this is a flawed strategy. It underestimates the depth of our educational deficits and betrays a lack of understanding of the requirements of a modern labour force, including in construction.
Moreover, Minister Charles' proposed "massive training programme" to be run by HEART/NTA - laudable as it is - faces serious obstacles. There is a severe shortage of qualified trainers. There is a huge English deficit. Most adults - especially males - actively resist education and training. Everyone wants training to take place on the time and at the expense of employers. How can this work for small and medium business - the bulk of our employers? This is not a problem amenable to 'crash' solutions.
The problem of the youth cannot be solved by expanding the number of unskilled construction jobs. Unskilled construction labour and lumpenism are already intimately interrelated. Moreover, with a national unemployment rate of 9.5 per cent, the issue is not mainly one of outright youth unemployment. It is primarily an issue of low-wage employment - the working poor.
Migratory jobs to Canada are great but obviously not a solution. Expanding more low-paying jobs in the local construction sector aggravates and does not address the problem either.
We, therefore, have no choice but to bite the bullet of mastering English and of skills development. We have discussed how to defeat the lumpen politically. Now we must turn our minds to defeating them economically.
