New partnership on jobs

The Jamaican Government and a top business group will announce a jobs plan on Monday aimed at putting 40,000 people to work.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Jamaica Commerce are scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding on the ‘Jamaica Employ’ project announced earlier this year by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Simpson Miller then appealed to companies’ nationalism, urging the employment of at least one ‘qualified’ person.

Jamaica has been shedding jobs since the recession. The unemployment rate has risen to 14.3 per cent in the last labour force for April 2012.

The signing of the MOU will be done at Jamaica House, the home base of the Office of the Prime Minister. Jamaica Employ will focus on information sharing to align jobseekers with companies in search of talent.

business@gleanerjm.com