Unemployment in Jamaica

Literature Review
There is no doubt that unemployment is a burning issue in our society today. By way of an introduction it would be necessary to put a definition to the term unemployment as opposed to employment. A person is considered to be employed if that person has a full-time job and obtains a salary or wage consistent with the qualifications that he or she possess. Unemployment on the other hand, refers to situation where a person is a part of the labour force, is capable and willing to work, but has not yet found a job. But what are the causative factors behind unemployment in Harbour Veiw? Firstly, the number of persons entering the labour force supersedes the capacity of the economies to generate additional employment. Additionally, the education system in the Caribbean is heavily academically oriented. As such, thousands of secondary school graduates are qualified for positions as clerks, secretaries and other white collar jobs. These types of jobs are low in demand, thus these graduates remain unemployed. The failure of the education system to meet the manpower needs of society is seen in the fact that thousands of jobs are advertised daily in the newspapers; however few people are qualified to fill the vacancies. Another causative factor of unemployment is that capital intensive industries, particularly in the industrial sector, are fast replacing labour intensive ones. Even in the agricultural sector, harvesters are being used in the sugar industry which replaces thousands of workers. Also, in countries that are small there is a shortage in a large variety of physical resources. This stifles their abilities to create jobs in the manufacturing sector. Without a doubt, the rates of unemployment will have an effect on the society and governments everywhere are very much concerned with reducing unemployment for many reasons. One, unemployment obviously spells a waste of available manpower while at the same time creating a variety of social problems. Also, there is a drain on the purse of the government, especially for security purposes. Additionally a high unemployment figure reflects negatively on the effectiveness of the government. The full utilization of the human and physical resources of a country cannot be realized and of course, the average standard of living declines.