Labour Market Forum 2010 - Planning Institute of Jamaica

A challenge to maintain the “Caribbean stimulus” as
heavy indebted limits the fiscal space
Employment growth had already slowed down since 2007
and unemployment increased
Open unemployment increased in many countries incl.
Barbados, Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago
There are no data available on underemployment …
especially important where work time sharing was applied
Diversification of the economies is still a major challenge
Protection of Real Wage levels ...major challenge in the
(post) crisis environment (only two countries adjusted
statutory minimum wages)
Employment Policy Responses
Little response to the ILO Caribbean Jobs Crisis
Observatory
No integrated employment policies in response to the
crisis … mostly “implicit policy responses”
Some examples:
64