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...we have moved from zero to one. Hopefully, we`ll move to two in less than a lifetime.
Please read where we are building not only our hopes, but also our economy in a tangible, consistently proportionate way.
Gleaners contributor: MANY COMMENTATORS, including me, have discussed the positive developments in the economy. This includes the growing confidence, decreasing interest rates and the move towards balancing the budget in the current fiscal year. Some persons have asked me how I can say that we are improving, when by their standards, and that of many other persons, it seems as if times are getting harder. Within the context of these positives there are reductions in the cost of living, as inflation has outpaced salary increases, increasing crime levels, and a failed education system.
ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Why then would there be commentary that the economy is improving when many people are not feeling it? The answer to this question is that an improving economy does not necessarily mean that we have economic success. It just simply means that we are improving from one position to a better one. The fact though is that the current situation we are improving from is very bad and the benefits from any improvement will not be felt by everyone for a long time.
The economy is still in a very fragile state and is very far from being an economic success. Anyone who states that we have economic success is being either totally paranoid or political. In order to get to 10, however, we have to first count to one and two, and in our case we are at minus one. The important thing is that we continue the count to 10 and not start to count backwards.
The question remains, when can we say that we are economically successful? I would like to propose that economic success is more than just improving the numbers, although the numbers are important. Whether one invests in an organisation, or a country, the people and culture are going to be very important in determining success and stability. If as a country we ignore these factors, we could find ourselves building wealth that can be easily lost in a shorter time period.
LABOUR FORCE
This brings me to an important point I would like to make. As a country we are touting economic improvement, but it seems as if our focus is always on the numbers, and not the qualitative issues. These include crime and education, which are the two most important factors stifling Jamaica's economic buoyancy.
The real question remains, that even if we are to get the necessary foreign investors, do we have a prepared labour force to take advantage of the economic expansion? I have heard the Minister of Finance and others say that Jamaicans are not equipped to take advantage of the many foreign investments, such as Riu, that is currently underway. What this means is that we will not maximise our benefits from these investments. Is this any surprise, however, as even when we have protected quotas (bananas and sugar) we find it difficult to fill them, if at all?
This responsibility to be prepared, however, is not just a governmental one, but must include individual preparation. If we carefully examine our labour force, we will see that we are not ready to take advantage of the new investments that will take place in the economy. Herein lies the problem of the trickle down effect of economic growth and the reason why some will say they are not experiencing any benefits. I often say to my colleagues, even if we are to attract 10 times the investments we currently have, we would still have some persons saying that they are not benefiting from this growth. The explanation for this is really simple; the labour force does not have the requisite skills to do so.
TRAINING ALIGNMENT
In the Business section of The Gleaner last Wednesday, there was a column by Ilsa duVerney entitled "Training key to development". This applies to organisations and the country. Everyone knows that if an organisation does not ensure that it has a well trained work force then it will suffer from problems of inefficiency, and if the competitor has a better trained work force, then guess which one will be more productive. Furthermore, even within an organisation, the better trained persons get the greater share of the pie. This is increasingly so as many organisations are using performance based management schemes as they try to reward productivity rather than position. It is very important for the performance reward scheme to work effectively, however, else what will happen is that the most productive workers will not be rewarded the greatest and so will eventually leave the organisation. This is similar to how the foreign recruitment centres choose the best from our nurses and teachers. We know the effect on our health and education systems.
The challenge facing the government is that as the managers of the country, they have the responsibility to ensure that training programmes are implemented that will be aligned with our expansion areas. Two organisations that have to play an important role in achieving this are HEART and the National Youth Service (NYS). What government must do is look at what the possible investment areas are and what skills will be required to take full advantage of these developments. This must then be aligned with the training and other programmes of HEART and the NYS, so that they do not set their own objectives in isolation of each other, hence providing the wrong or same skill sets.
If we do not prepare for this in a systematic manner then we will always have persons saying that they are not feeling the improvements in the economy. Even more important, if we want to improve the average earnings of Jamaicans we need to ensure that they are constantly being trained and retrained to improve their skills, for example as happened in Singapore. I have heard persons complain that they have been in a job for many years and have not seen much improvement in their compensation levels. These persons, however, do not try to improve their skills. What do they expect?
True independence
This is the way to achieve real economic success. Many of our citizens supplement their income through remittances. We talk with pride about Jamaica's high levels of remittances, but this is no different from supplementing one's income from grants and gifts, which we also include as a significant revenue source in our budget. The only way to true independence is to earn the money to meet all our living standards. Until we can do this then it means that we are still dependent on others, and cannot truly say that we are a sovereign nation, irrespective of how many laws and institutions are introduced.
If Jamaica is to claim true economic success then we must ensure that the economic growth is experienced by all. To do that we must ensure that our workforce is properly trained and compensated based on their productivity.
E-mail: [email protected]
Please read where we are building not only our hopes, but also our economy in a tangible, consistently proportionate way.
Gleaners contributor: MANY COMMENTATORS, including me, have discussed the positive developments in the economy. This includes the growing confidence, decreasing interest rates and the move towards balancing the budget in the current fiscal year. Some persons have asked me how I can say that we are improving, when by their standards, and that of many other persons, it seems as if times are getting harder. Within the context of these positives there are reductions in the cost of living, as inflation has outpaced salary increases, increasing crime levels, and a failed education system.
ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Why then would there be commentary that the economy is improving when many people are not feeling it? The answer to this question is that an improving economy does not necessarily mean that we have economic success. It just simply means that we are improving from one position to a better one. The fact though is that the current situation we are improving from is very bad and the benefits from any improvement will not be felt by everyone for a long time.
The economy is still in a very fragile state and is very far from being an economic success. Anyone who states that we have economic success is being either totally paranoid or political. In order to get to 10, however, we have to first count to one and two, and in our case we are at minus one. The important thing is that we continue the count to 10 and not start to count backwards.
The question remains, when can we say that we are economically successful? I would like to propose that economic success is more than just improving the numbers, although the numbers are important. Whether one invests in an organisation, or a country, the people and culture are going to be very important in determining success and stability. If as a country we ignore these factors, we could find ourselves building wealth that can be easily lost in a shorter time period.
LABOUR FORCE
This brings me to an important point I would like to make. As a country we are touting economic improvement, but it seems as if our focus is always on the numbers, and not the qualitative issues. These include crime and education, which are the two most important factors stifling Jamaica's economic buoyancy.
The real question remains, that even if we are to get the necessary foreign investors, do we have a prepared labour force to take advantage of the economic expansion? I have heard the Minister of Finance and others say that Jamaicans are not equipped to take advantage of the many foreign investments, such as Riu, that is currently underway. What this means is that we will not maximise our benefits from these investments. Is this any surprise, however, as even when we have protected quotas (bananas and sugar) we find it difficult to fill them, if at all?
This responsibility to be prepared, however, is not just a governmental one, but must include individual preparation. If we carefully examine our labour force, we will see that we are not ready to take advantage of the new investments that will take place in the economy. Herein lies the problem of the trickle down effect of economic growth and the reason why some will say they are not experiencing any benefits. I often say to my colleagues, even if we are to attract 10 times the investments we currently have, we would still have some persons saying that they are not benefiting from this growth. The explanation for this is really simple; the labour force does not have the requisite skills to do so.
TRAINING ALIGNMENT
In the Business section of The Gleaner last Wednesday, there was a column by Ilsa duVerney entitled "Training key to development". This applies to organisations and the country. Everyone knows that if an organisation does not ensure that it has a well trained work force then it will suffer from problems of inefficiency, and if the competitor has a better trained work force, then guess which one will be more productive. Furthermore, even within an organisation, the better trained persons get the greater share of the pie. This is increasingly so as many organisations are using performance based management schemes as they try to reward productivity rather than position. It is very important for the performance reward scheme to work effectively, however, else what will happen is that the most productive workers will not be rewarded the greatest and so will eventually leave the organisation. This is similar to how the foreign recruitment centres choose the best from our nurses and teachers. We know the effect on our health and education systems.
The challenge facing the government is that as the managers of the country, they have the responsibility to ensure that training programmes are implemented that will be aligned with our expansion areas. Two organisations that have to play an important role in achieving this are HEART and the National Youth Service (NYS). What government must do is look at what the possible investment areas are and what skills will be required to take full advantage of these developments. This must then be aligned with the training and other programmes of HEART and the NYS, so that they do not set their own objectives in isolation of each other, hence providing the wrong or same skill sets.
If we do not prepare for this in a systematic manner then we will always have persons saying that they are not feeling the improvements in the economy. Even more important, if we want to improve the average earnings of Jamaicans we need to ensure that they are constantly being trained and retrained to improve their skills, for example as happened in Singapore. I have heard persons complain that they have been in a job for many years and have not seen much improvement in their compensation levels. These persons, however, do not try to improve their skills. What do they expect?
True independence
This is the way to achieve real economic success. Many of our citizens supplement their income through remittances. We talk with pride about Jamaica's high levels of remittances, but this is no different from supplementing one's income from grants and gifts, which we also include as a significant revenue source in our budget. The only way to true independence is to earn the money to meet all our living standards. Until we can do this then it means that we are still dependent on others, and cannot truly say that we are a sovereign nation, irrespective of how many laws and institutions are introduced.
If Jamaica is to claim true economic success then we must ensure that the economic growth is experienced by all. To do that we must ensure that our workforce is properly trained and compensated based on their productivity.
E-mail: [email protected]
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