Labour Market Forum 2010 - Planning Institute of Jamaica

It should also be noted that the companies listed on the
Jamaica Stock Exchange combined have significantly fewer
than 100,000 employees or less than 10% of the employed
workforce. If one were to add all the large private companies,
the membership of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica,
Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, and so on, the percentage
would still be less than 20%.
Similarly, the combined membership of all Jamaica’s trade
unions is below 140,000. Again a relatively small number
compared to the overall workforce.
Employment in the Public Sector is under 120,000.
So while we the leadership of the Private Sector, Labour and
the State meet to make policy, we must be mindful that over
80% of the workforce are neither directly employed to us nor
are members of our organizations.
These are small businesses and self-employed persons, many of
them in the informal economy, who are responding to the
macroeconomic, social and regulatory environment in
whatever way they can and doing whatever they have to.
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