Prioritise education for strong labour force - Schnoor

Education is needed to stimulate job creation along with the country's economic growth and, financial expert Anya Schnoor strongly insists, sacrifices must be made for this invaluable sector.

Schnoor's suggestion for reform was well received by those in attendance for yesterday's Rotary Club of Kingston luncheon, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

She cited a World Bank report to underline her point in the minds of Rotarians and their guests, noting that labour productivity declines by just over one per cent each year.

According to Schnoor, who is Scotiabank Group's executive vice-president of wealth management and insurance, this decline has been ongoing since 1973 and, consequently, the Jamaican education system should make subjects such as mathematics, computer programming and physics a national priority.

These subjects, Schnoor noted, would be key to infrastructure and institutional development while contributing to Jamaica's technological advancement and competitiveness on both the local and international markets.

"We have limited resources and we have to focus ... . Maybe we can't subsidise all the degrees you may want to do," she said, referring to an art degree as an example. "It's not really a national priority."

No formal training

Schnoor also referred to data from the Statistical Institute which indicate that nearly 70 per cent of people who are employed, and a quarter of the unemployed population, have no formal training.

In her pointed presentation, Schnoor called for "a comprehensive approach" to reform as the baby-step approach to funding education is not working.

"I would say I need help in enhancing our education system," she said, describing a hypothetical negotiation with multilateral agencies. "'Lend me 20-year long-term money now that I can use to make this massive investment in education'."

Schnoor maintained that institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and other multilateral agencies would respond favourably to Jamaica's effort to improve the lives of its people.

She stressed that an uneducated workforce will not attract business and the "piece-by-piece" approach to development will not win over potential investors or stimulate economic growth.

"We can't say, 'Come here, don't go to India. Come here, we have English speakers, we're close to you, we have the best labour force - they're well equipped ... we can give you 10,000 workers tomorrow'," Schnoor said, lamenting that Jamaica's labour force is not equipped for large-scale employment.

"This goes to the heart of the job-creation problem in Jamaica. Even if we were to get billions in investment, it would not make a big difference to a lot of Jamaicans."

- L.R.