#Kingston, May 22, 2019 – Jamaica – Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, is calling on leaders in the public and private sectors to focus more on productivity and human development for growth in the economy.
Speaking
at the opening of an Organisation Development Transformation Conference today
(May 21), at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston, Mr. Shaw said low
productivity and human underdevelopment have caused Jamaica’s economy to suffer
from growth the nation could have achieved in years gone by.
“Productivity
is an issue we have to confront more directly and in a more focused way.
Jamaica’s productivity has steadily declined over the years. Labour
productivity growth in Jamaica has been low as far back as the 1990s,” the
Minister pointed out.
“Our
greatest crisis is not crime, not the murder rate, and those are crises. Our
greatest crisis is human underdevelopment. That is our single greatest crisis,
and that manifests itself in low productivity levels,” he added.
The Minister
said that labour productivity, which is the real value of what is produced in
the economy, continues to decline, noting that it was higher in previous years.
“In
the 1960s, our economic growth was among the highest in the world. We were
averaging six per cent a year and our productivity levels were among the
highest in the world as well. These are directly interrelated issues – productivity
and economic growth. They go hand in hand,” Mr. Shaw emphasised. He said that previous achievements in Jamaica,
with regard to the economy, inspired Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore to
come to Jamaica in 1964.
“He
wanted to know what we were doing here. In 1971, the Jamaican economy grew by 12
per cent. We have a lot of catching up to do,” the Minister said.
The
two-day conference, hosted by the Caribbean Centre for Organisation Development
Excellence Limited (CARI-CODE) and the Caribbean Organisation Development
Network (CODN), is being held under the theme ‘OD – 2.0 Rise to Meet
Opportunities of the Decade’,
Contact: Ainsworth Morris
Release: JIS
Photo: Rudranath Fraser
Header: Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw (right), speaks with Founding Director, Caribbean Organisation Development Network, Lorna McDonald, at the opening of an Organisation Development Transformation Conference at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on May 21.
Insert: Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw (left), in conversation with President, K Craft Associates Inc, Kaye Craft, at the Organisation Development Transformation Conference, at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on May 21.