PNP tops on jobs

Portia's party better economy manager, say most Jamaicans

MOST JAMAICANS believe the economy was better handled under the last People's National Party (PNP) administration than the present Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government, despite many successes of Finance Minister Audley Shaw.

With interest rates at their lowest in decades and a 1.5 per cent growth in the economy in the first quarter of this year, Shaw might have expected that Jamaicans would rate his performance above that of Dr Omar Davies, who controlled the public purse for much of the PNP's time in office.

But that is not the case, according to a Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll, which also found that a substantial portion of the population believes the PNP was better at creating jobs when compared to the current JLP administration.

Forty-nine per cent of Jamaicans surveyed believe the previous PNP administration did better in handling the economy compared to 31 per cent who favour the way the JLP government has set about doing the job. The remaining 20 per cent said they don't know which government is better.

The survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus four per cent, was conducted on May 28 and 29 and June 4 and 5, 2011. A total of 1,008 Jamaicans islandwide were sampled.

On the issue of job creation - a major premise on which the JLP campaigned for power ahead of its 2007 election victory - the vast majority of Jamaicans seemed not to be impressed with the approach of the Government.

Of the persons sampled, 21 per cent said the Government was doing better in creating jobs than the last PNP administration. Conversely, 53 per cent said the last administration did a better job. A sizeable 26 per cent of the population said they don't know which party is better.

Johnson and his researchers found that 40 per cent of Jamaicans regard jobs/unemployment as the most pressing problem now facing the country.

This is the highest number of persons who have expressed concern about the lack of jobs since August 2007 - the eve of the last general election. Then, jobs/unemployment, with 36 per cent, was second to crime and violence, which scored 56 per cent, as the most pressing problem facing the country.

Jobs, jobs not far away

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, speaking at a political meeting last month, said the fulfilment of the promise of jobs, jobs and more jobs might not be far away.

"We talking about big bucks, we talking 'bout whole heapa jobs and I am itching to be able to announce it because I know the hope that it would bring," he told JLP supporters in St Andrew.

Golding's administration has blamed the previous PNP government for bad management of the economy and said that, coupled with the worldwide recession, affected the country's ability to grow.

In his 2011 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, Shaw claimed the JLP "inherited an economy on the border of collapse".

"The only option for survival was for us to make significant game-changing decisions. Top of the list was negotiating an IMF agreement with the most 'bearable' terms possible - given the weak hand we held," Shaw said.

Jamaica entered into an agreement with the IMF for a 27-month facility which allowed the country to draw down on US$1.27 billion.