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continue to convert assets to foreign exchange to protect their assets from
the ravages of depreciation, which itself helps put pressure on the
exchange rate.
Unemployment
o
Mr Speaker, I turn now to the unemployment figures. The unemployment
rate at October 2011 when the Jamaica Labour Party was in office was
12.8%, a high figure and one that we, like all Jamaicans, would like to see
move into single digits.
o
Mr Speaker, Madame Prime Minister with much fanfare about the JEEP and
the election promises about jobs, you would think that the unemployment
rate in Jamaica is now approaching that of the US at 5.5%. Well, Mr
Speaker, in October 2014, the unemployment rate was 14.2%, well higher
than the 12.8% that the JLP handed over. Jamaica is moving in the wrong
direction.
o
For the male population, unemployment at October 2011 during the JLP’s
time in government, was 9.9%. At October 2014, unemployment among
our males was exactly where the JLP left it at 9.9%. Where is the progress?
o
For the female population, unemployment at October 2011 was 16.9%, not
a number of which we in the JLP are proud. It needs to be significantly
lower. Well, Mr Speaker, at October 2014, female unemployment was
19.4%. Almost twenty thousand (19,800) more females were in the
unemployment ranks at October 2014 than when the JLP handed over the
government. The country, Mr Speaker, is moving in the wrong direction.