Labour Market Forum 2010 - Planning Institute of Jamaica

formal contracts and work is usually part-time as against full
time. This is the sector in which the majority of jobs occurred in
the last quarter in Jamaica, the sector – defined by the IDB as
the informal sector - where workers are fearful of exercising their
right to union representation; where virtually no pension
benefits exist; where women are discriminated against, and
there is no job security.
We could well see the exponential growth in the informal
sector, which presently constitute about 50% of the Jamaican
economy.
Under the new global economic orthodoxy of
greater marketization, investment patterns tend to favour
capital and disadvantage labour, especially lower-skilled
workers who cannot migrate easily. Forced to conform to the
rules of global trade, we have seen the radical restructuring of
production and distribution in the Jamaican economy that is
characterized by outsourcing and subcontracting through
global commodity chains.
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