Letter of the Day | Bursting the high employment bubble
Published:Friday | August 25, 2023 | 12:05 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
The 2014 Statistical Institute of Jamaica report defines or measure employment as: “Individuals .... being employed if they are 14 years and over and engaged in some economic activity for at least one hour in the week before the start of the survey.”
The question then is, what is the value or earnings for one hour of labour, and its purchase power? According to payscale.com report in July, the average hourly rate paid to a security officer in Jamaica is between $222 and $359.
Examining the purchase power of one hour’s pay within this category of workers, we can use the cost of public transportation to measure its viability. If the individual is travelling from the community of Rose Hill in south Manchester to work for one hour in Mandeville, average public transportation cost is $250 each way. So the temporary worker, with minimum one hour of work, ends up either owing the route taxi $56, or if paid at the higher scale, after paying transportation costs, takes home $218.
If the worker was living in Plowden, it would be best to decline the one hour job offer, as transportation costs would be more than what the worker is paid for their job.
The crucial point we keep overlooking in Jamaica is, why boast about a high employment rate, which still keeps a significant percentage of the population in poverty?
Interestingly, as the politicians and their diehard supporters paint a picture of high employment, the National Commercial Bank recently cut the majority of staff from its digital wallet division Lynk; and the governor for the Bank of Jamaica then burst the false ‘employment bubble’ when he describes the labour market as “tight” ( The Gleaner, August 23), that is, when job openings are plentiful and available workers are scarce.
DUDLEY MCLEAN II
Mandeville, Manchester