Labor markets in Jamaica : structure, performance, and policy

An outline of labor policy problems and labor market institutions in the introductory chapter reveals the complexity of factors contributing to joblessness and low income growth. Chapter two details recent growth and patterns of change in population, labor force participation, employment, and unemployment. In the third, some preliminary findings concerning Jamaica"s industrial relations system are presented. A detailed discussion of labor market subsystems is given in chapter four, and a discussion of the adjustment practices of the Jamaican labor market is presented in the following chapter. The final chapter presents conclusions concerning the four main areas of policy concern: skill bottlenecks, labor productivity, youth unemployment, and labor-management relations. Appended are 15 pages of references and 39 statistical tables. (Author abstract. modified)