Prime Minister Andrew Holness has described as a ‘national emergency’ the need to reach out to Jamaica’s human resources who are outside the formal labour force, given evidence of a labour shortage.
He says despite programmes that are in train to bridge the gap between school-leavers and those that graduate to the labour force, there is a hard-core block of human capital that has been left behind for decades, living in communities with nothing to do.
“They are the ones who are getting themselves into problems. They are the ones committing crime; and they are the victims themselves,” Prime Minister Holness said Tuesday ahead of the official launch of a new US$30-million production line at beverage manufacturer Pepsi-Cola Jamaica Bottling Company Limited in Kingston. Holness said the present record-low unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent does not take into account those who are not seeking work or who have otherwise opted to stay outside the labour force.