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The Government is seeking public-private partnership to close the soft skills gap that exists among the nation’s youth.

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Shahine Robinson, says the 2017 National Labour Market survey found that the skills gap was predominant among students leaving high school with no work experience.

She is imploring partnership with the Ministry as it seeks to close the gap in a bid to better prepare young people for the world of work and to improve productivity.

“The gap identified is that of soft skills and the lack thereof, with emphasis being placed on customer service and empathy,” she said, while addressing a ‘Labour Department and You’ roadshow, held recently at the Ocho Rios Baptist Church, St. Ann.

“I want to tell you that the soft skills are the personal attributes. Personality traits, inherent social cues and communication skills needed for success on the job. Soft skills include possessing a good attitude, the use of initiative, creative thinking, teamwork, decision-making, good work ethics, networking, positivity, time management, motivation, flexibility, problem solving and conflict resolution,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Robinson said that the Ministry will continue to use its Labour Market Information System (LMIS) to better prepare young workers for the present and future demands of the job market.

“The Ministry’s LMIS website provides information about market data, which includes hot jobs, emerging and obsolete jobs, and seeks to provide information on possible scholarships and job opportunities. I say obsolete because some jobs are, in fact, disappearing as technology improves,” she noted.

In this regard, she underscored the need for Jamaicans to prepare themselves for the emerging marketplace and the emerging jobs.

Mrs. Robinson stressed that the world of work is changing at an alarming rate and “we have to keep abreast of it if we are going to make ourselves marketable and make ourselves investor-friendly as a country too”.

“As we continue [on] the trajectory of reducing youth unemployment, the Ministry will continue to work through our evidence-based programmes, such as the labour market information system… to prepare young workers for the present and future demands of the world of work,” she added.

She said that the Ministry plans to review the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the HEART Trust/NTA to meet the demands in the job market.

She noted, for example, that “we can’t find enough landscapers, not even for the local demand much less for the overseas demand. So, as jobs emerge and the market changes, we have to make ourselves relevant to that market”.

The roadshow was the second in the series being staged by the Ministry to address issues related to the job market, industrial relations, occupational safety and health, efforts to eliminate child labour, as well as local and overseas employment programmes.

The roadshows, which will travel across the island, are being staged in collaboration with the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF) and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU).

The show will stop in Kingston and St. Andrew on November 21 and 22; St. James, January 16 and 17; and St. Thomas, February 27 and 28.

Source: https://jis.gov.jm/govt-seeking-partnerships-to-address-soft-skills-gap/

In response to reports of industrial action islandwide by the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPSCo) and workers affiliated to the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), the Ministry of Labour and Social Security held an emergency conciliation meeting this morning.

Arising from the meeting, the parties have agreed that:

• Normalcy will be restored at the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited this evening, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 with the 8:00 p.m. shift.
• The Union and the Company will meet at the local level on Thursday, October 11, 2018 to have further discussions.

There will be a follow up conciliation meeting at the Ministry’s 1F North Street Office on October 16, 2018.

Employers, workers and self-employed persons are being reminded to contribute to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as required by law.

The call was made by Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Shahine Robinson, at the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons’ (CCRP) 2018 Living Legacy Awards luncheon held on Friday (September 28), at the Mona Visitors Lodge, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus.

She said that non-compliance is a major factor in the lack of growth in the number of contributors, despite increased employment levels.

Under the law, all persons age 18 years and older, who are gainfully employed and domiciled in Jamaica, should be insured under the NIS.

“The NIS is mandatory if you are working. There are provisions in the law to sanction employers and persons, who don’t contribute and I believe we (the government) may have to look at that to make sure that when these funds are taken from your salary that it is indeed paid over to the scheme,” she said.

Mrs. Robinson said every effort is being made to preserve the scheme, which was established 56 years ago.

“It was a brilliant idea and it has served the people of Jamaica well and we want to continue to build on that,” she said.

Meanwhile, she informed that the Ministry is taking steps to increase the number of NIS contributors.

These include increasing the monitoring of places of work to ensure that all eligible persons are registered; improving service to contributors/ pensioners; and developing public education and marketing campaigns to reach persons, including those, who are self-employed.

A survey of self-employed persons will be done during this financial year and the information, along with data from the NIS Awareness and Perception Survey will be used to inform the marketing campaign to increase compliance among this group.

Established in 2012, the annual CCRP Living Legacy Awards recognise senior citizens, 55 years or older, who have contributed to the growth and development of the country.

This year’s awards luncheon honoured four distinguished Jamaicans – founder and chairman of Cari-Med Limited and philanthropist, Glen Christian; founder of the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI), Joy Crooks; medical doctor and philanthropist, Owen James; and educator, author and theatre practitioner, Dr. Jean Small.

Citations were read and plaques presented to each of the award recipients in honour of their contributions to national development.

Source: https://jis.gov.jm/nis-contribution-mandatory-for-employed-jamaicans/

The public is being invited to provide feedback and comments on the Green Paper for the revised National Policy for Senior Citizens, which is on the websites of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Shahine Robinson, issued the invitation during the launch of Senior Citizens’ Week on Friday, September 21, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

She said Parliament is expected to complete the review of the policy, which will allow for improved social protection measures for seniors, in the coming year.

The Minister said the policy will be the benchmark for establishing and maintaining a productive, healthy, meaningful environment for citizens, and it will redound to the benefit of seniors in an all-inclusive way.

“We are confronted with the challenges of an ageing population, which will constantly require the Government to create policies and programmes to cater to the needs of seniors,” she said.

The revised National Policy for Senior Citizens has established six major policy goals – increased participation of senior citizens in all spheres of the society; improved income security and social protection coverage for senior citizens; adequate and supportive health and welfare systems for senior citizens; improved independence, security and safety for senior citizens; enhanced family support systems and community solidarity from interaction with senior citizens; and strengthened institutional and infrastructural networks for partnership and collaboration.

Meanwhile, the Minister noted that the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) will, in the upcoming year, be establishing a national registry for senior citizens.

“This exercise will complement our efforts through the national policy in streamlining the agenda conducive to their growth and development,” she said.

Concurrent with that, she said the team is also seeking to strengthen generational connectivity, through sensitisation workshops with some 800 secondary and post-secondary students, on retirement and lifestyle planning.

Mrs. Robinson noted that the Council is working to promote active ageing through a range of activities, in particular through the training of 273 seniors over the past year in basic computer and information technology (IT) skills.

She said the NCSC also staged senior citizen entrepreneurial empowerment workshops across all parishes, to provide small business management skills to senior citizens.

Source: https://jis.gov.jm/comments-invited-on-green-paper-for-revised-policy-for-senior-citizens/

Comments are to be sent to seniorspolicy@mlss.gov.jm

Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson is appealing to Jamaicans to unite in stamping out the abuse of senior citizens, warning that those who persist in taking advantage of this vulnerable group will face harsher sanctions.

“I appeal to all Jamaicans to report the abuse of elders to the police or to the council (National Council for Senior Citizens). Those of you who are engaged in it, I say to you, publicly, desist from doing so because if it means that stiffer penalties will have to be imposed as a deterrent, so shall it be,” she declared yesterday during the launch of Senior Citizens Week at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.

The week, which runs from Sunday, September 23 to Monday, October 1 under the theme ‘Forging Our Future: Embracing the Participation, Contribution and Talents of Older Persons’ will see a number of activities across the island celebrating the rights as well as the contributions of senior citizens (person 60 years and older).

Promising that the pending revised national policy for senior citizens will provide improved social-protection measures, Robinson underscored the need for a greater appreciation of the work and worth of senior citizens.

REVISED NAT’L POLICY

“The prosperity, progress, growth, and gains we are enjoying today have been made possible through the tremendous efforts and sacrifices of our seniors and elders across the island. Therefore, as I launch activities marking Senior Citizens Week, I must remind all Jamaicans that the abuse of our elders is of great concern to all decent and law-abiding citizens,” said Robinson.

The minister offered further insight into provisions of the revised national senior policy, which was tabled in Parliament this year, the Green Paper for which is available on the ministry’s and the Jamaica Information Service’s websites for review and comments.

“This policy will be the benchmark for establishing and maintaining a productive, healthy, and meaningful environment for our senior citizens. It is anticipated that Parliament, in the coming year, will complete the review of the policy, which will allow for social-protection measures that will redound to the benefit of our senior citizens all over Jamaica.”

The national church service to mark the official start of the week is slated to get under way today at 11 o’clock at the Ocho Rios Seventh-day Adventist Church, Milford Road, St Ann.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20180922/stop-abusing-seniors-urges-labour-and-social-security-minister

Labour and Social Security Minister, Shahine Robinson, is encouraging Jamaicans to protect the elderly by reporting incidents of abuse meted out to them to the police or the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC).

The minister said abuse of seniors should be of grave concern to all “decent and law-abiding citizens”, noting that the practice must be stopped.

“No person in society should be subject to abuse, and definitely not our seniors who, because of their age, become vulnerable and are preyed upon by heartless and uncaring persons. They are being abused physically, financially and otherwise. This must stop,” she emphasised.

The minister was addressing the press launch for Senior Citizens Week yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

“[Seniors] must be respected and their rights must not be violated. Those of you who are engaged in it, I say to you desist from it, because if it means that civil penalties will have to be imposed as a deterrent, then so shall it be,” she asserted.

Robinson said the ministry is working towards building a Jamaica where healthy relationships are fostered among elders and all other citizens, leading to the transfer of knowledge which will serve to preserve the country’s legacy.

Senior Citizen’s Week is being observed from September 22 to October 1, under the theme: ‘Forging our Future: Embracing the Participation, Contribution and Talents of Older Persons’.

The schedule of activities kicked off with a national church service at the Ocho Rios Seventh Day Adventist Church in St Ann on Saturday, September 22.

A national tree planting ceremony will be held on Wednesday, September 26 at the Stimulation Child Development Centre at 1A Ostend Close in Kingston. All other parishes will conduct tree planting activities on Monday, September 24.

An evening of entertainment for the seniors is slated for Saturday, September 29, which will include a concert featuring reggae/soca band, Fab 5. This will be held at the Karram Speid Auditorium at Merl Grove High School, Constant Spring Road, St Andrew.

Sunday, September 30, will be observed as National Grandparents Day, while International Day for Older Persons will be marked on Monday, October 1.

The latter will see the National Council for Senior Citizens hosting fora on the rights of the elderly in all parishes.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Social_security_minister_urges_society_to_protect_the_elderly

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Shahine Robinson, says the Electronic Labour Exchange (ELE) is positively impacting the lives of young jobseekers.

The ELE matches employers and jobseekers, and provides career counselling, résumé writing, and access to information on scholarships and loans.

“In recent times, we have been working with persons in the Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs) by providing job-readiness training and employment placement. I have had the chance to see them as they visit our office, and I am proud to share that the programmes offered by the ELE have created a sense of hope for them and their families,” the Minister said.

She informed that officials from St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Grenada conducted a study tour of the programme earlier this month, to see whether it could be used as a model to address youth unemployment in their respective countries. The visit was funded by the Organization of American States (OAS).

Mrs. Robinson was speaking at the first in the series of ‘Labour and You’ roadshows on Wednesday (September 19) in Mandeville, Manchester.

The two-day event addressed issues related to industrial relations, the job market, occupational safety and health, efforts to eliminate child labour, as well as local and overseas employment programmes.

Minister Robinson, in her presentation, stressed the importance of improving skills and being prepared for the job market in an era when the notion of having one job over a lifetime is a thing of the past.

She noted that in order to ensure the greatest level of productivity over the 47 years of one’s working life, intervention programmes are needed to facilitate skilling, re-skilling and upskilling.

“Gone are the days that workers complete training which lasts a lifetime. With the rapid changes in the way we manage businesses and perform work, the skills learnt up to age 18 will become outdated by mid-career. To that end, the roadshows will be a vehicle for directing people to improving their skills,” she said.

The Minister, in the meantime, cautioned prospective jobseekers to be wary of unscrupulous persons, who will fleece them out of hard-earned money by offering them fake overseas employment opportunities.

She said that the Ministry has help desks and qualified officers, who can provide them with credible information about registered employment agencies.

Meanwhile, Director of Industrial Relations and Allied Services in the Ministry, Gillian Corrodus, said the roadshow, which will travel across the island, will address a number of critical issues related to the labour market, including the labour laws.

“When we look at the number of concerns and complaints that are shared with us by employers and employees, we recognise that we need to have greater dialogue,” she said.

“So the concept of this regional roadshow is to roll up our sleeves and speak to some of these issues to see if we can achieve growth and achieve our sustainable development goals,” Ms. Corrodus added.

Among the agencies of the Ministry represented were the Industrial Relations Department, Child Labour Unit, Electronic Labour Exchange, Employment Agencies Unit, Pay and Conditions of Employment Branch, Social Intervention Programme and the Occupational Safety and Health Department.

The roadshows, which will travel across the island, involve collaboration with the Jamaica Employers’ Federation and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions.

The show will next stop in St. Ann October 30 and 31; Kingston and St. Andrew, November 21 and 22; St. James, January 16 and 17; and St. Thomas, February 27 and 28.

Source: https://jis.gov.jm/young-jobseekers-benefiting-from-electronic-labour-exchange/

The National Investment Fund, NIF, indicates that it is restructuring its approach to investments in a way what will reduce risk, but in the meantime it is reporting a near 15 per cent growth in assets, mainly driven by returns on its equity investments, for the period ending March 2018.

Jamaica’s bullish stock market has contributed to a 34 per cent increase in the pension fund’s equities portfolio.

But the agency, which administers pension contributions to the National Insurance Scheme, says it is consistently looking for better outcomes, for two main purposes – to minimise risk and to deliver returns that contribute to a sustainable pension system.

Even as equities are outperforming, interest rates have been declining, which, in turn, would impact the returns on the NIF’s fixed-income investments.

NIF’s focus is to “maximise returns within acceptable risk limits whilst maintaining a level of liquidity to facilitate the timely payment of NIS benefits, bearing in mind that the scheme’s operations continue to experience a deficit on an annual basis,” the Ministry of Labour & Social Security told the Financial Gleaner in an update on the performance of the fund.

“With this in mind, the NIF continues to assess the asset allocation with a view to ensure that there is appropriate diversification, given the ever-changing dynamics of the investment environment in which we operate. In collaboration with the board, the current investment strategy is being revised,” the ministry said through its communications unit.

Returns on investments for fiscal year ending March 2018 saw the value of the NIF portfolio rising 14.89 per cent. It was an improvement on the previous year, when the portfolio grew 13.13 per cent.

The most current data, for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, ending June 2018, places the size of the fund at $114.02 billion. For that quarter, the NIF grew its net assets by 7.37 per cent to $114.02 billion. That’s triple the growth of 2.03 per cent in the similar period in 2017, with most of the gains linked to equities.

NIF said that in the past three years, the equity portfolio has grown by an average of 44.3 per cent – with the past year improving by 34.07 per cent – which it links to “improved profitability of the listed companies against the background of the improved economic climate”.

In that three-year period, the equity portfolio grew from $12 billion to $24.33 billion at March 2018. In the June quarter, the portfolio recorded additional gains with a value of $26 billion.

As for the fund’s real estate portfolio, the value of the assets have increased in the past two years, but not enough to offset the 32 per cent shrinkage recorded back in fiscal 2016

Last year, the portfolio grew 6.7 per cent, influenced by property upgrades and new projects. As at June, there was a further uptick in value to $14.84 billion.

The NIF’s investments in bonds and loans has grown overall in the past three years, from $61 billion to $67 billion as at March 2018. In the June quarter, the portfolio spiked further to $73.68 billion.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20180914/nif-weighs-risk-it-revises-investment-strategy

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Shahine Robinson, says the reason overseas-based pensioners experienced difficulties in receiving pension payments was due to a newly implemented payment process.

She said the Ministry will ensure the situation does not recur.

“I am happy to report that entitlements for the United States and Canadian-based pensioners were uploaded in August, with pensioners verifying the receipt of the overdue payments,” she said.

The Minister was speaking at a quarterly press briefing, held at the Ministry’s North Street office in Kingston on September 4.

Mrs. Robinson noted further that United Kingdom and Rest-of-the-World-based pensioners can also expect to receive payments no later than this weekend.

“We have been advised that all the issues have been resolved, and we will now ensure that the payments due for September 15 are on time,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mrs Robinson said the Ministry is working to improve customer service delivery to its clients, particularly in the processing of claims for social assistance; the turnaround time for work permit applications; and the turnaround time for the delivery of awards from the Industrial Disputes Tribunal.

She said the customer reception areas are also being improved to provide more efficiency in responding to telephone and email requests.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security will, this financial year, also commission into service new offices in St. Ann’s Bay, St. Ann and Lucea, Hanover, as part of a project to improve infrastructure at its parish offices.

Mrs. Robinson said other offices are also being upgraded, including the St. James parish office.

Source: https://jis.gov.jm/labour-ministry-deals-with-overseas-pensioners/

More and more non-unionised workers are having their cases sent to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) for arbitration, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Changes to the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act close to a decade ago, cleared the way for greater access.

“For the period January 2017 to December 2017, sixty-two disputes were referred to the IDT. Of these disputes, 55, or 89 per cent, were non-unionised cases, while only seven, or 11 per cent, were unionised cases. As at August 2018, of the total number of cases sent to the IDT for arbitration, only nine per cent were unionised,” said Shahine Robinson, minister of labour and social security. She was addressing a quarterly press briefing held on Tuesday at the ministry’s downtown Kingston offices.

Robinson noted that there are currently 67 active and five inactive disputes before the IDT. The inactive disputes are pending in court, and the tribunal cannot hear the matters until rulings have been made.

Dunstan Bryan, the ministry’s acting permanent secretary told The Gleaner: “In the previous dispensation, the persons would have to be part of unions, and the regulations were specific to their participation in the conciliation and the referral to the IDT. With the amendment to the legislation, ordinary citizens – household workers, workers in the retail trade, ordinary citizens – can access the IDT by themselves by representing themselves to the ministry.”

The case is then assessed and sent to the IDT based on its merit.

Robinson gave an update on her Sectoral Debate announcement in June that IDT services would be expanded to western Jamaica.

She said: “I am pleased to report that the ministry is finalising the lease agreement for the new facility. By the end of this financial year, workers and employers in western Jamaica will enjoy greater access to [the] IDT’s arbitration services.”

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20180906/majority-idt-cases-involve-non-unionised-workers