Jamaican Economy

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When we think of Jamaica, we immediately go to pictures of an ideal vacation spot, white sand beaches and crystal clear blue water; we rarely take into consideration what the workers go through, how their economy is, how people are affected everyday by income, poverty, manufacturing and jobs; hopefully this paper will give some insight into the lives of not only the workers, but everyone living in Jamaica at this time.
As you can guess, many people do in work within various resorts and beaches in Jamaica; tourism has a overwhelming source of income with about 60% of Gross Domestic Product, GDP. The average worker, if not working in a resort or a beach spot, has a job as a store clerk, worker in retail, supermarket worker; some people in Jamaica will even work for themselves, producing and selling their own crops and some even participate in illegal drug trade as a source of income. The employment rate in Jamaica is slowly declining, many older people of Jamaica are retiring and young people are starting to enter the working world with little education or experience under their belts. Younger workers should not expect to immediately have a high paying and amazing job; training and education if often not the greatest of quality, leaving many unskilled in their work area. The ILO, International Labor Organization has set standards for minimum wage, for a week, he average worker will make about $5,000 Jamaican dollars, which equals around $50 to $100 American dollars, this leads to about 1 million Jamaicans in poverty. IMF reports that Jamaican workers will receive less or equal to $2.50 American dollars a day. Average workers will work 6 days a week, with Sundays as a day off, so about 40 hours a week for the workers will be obtaine...

... middle of paper ...

...ts and everything that is internally going on regarding IMF, GDP, income, poverty, unemployment, you may need to open your eyes and see the bigger picture; yes, it looks beautiful, but people are struggling everyday in Jamaica.

Works Cited

"Working in Jamaica." Expatriate Community for Expats Worldwide. InterNations, 2014.
"Encyclopedia of the Nations." Jamaica Working Conditions, Information about Working Conditions in Jamaica. National Encyclopedia, 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
"CEPAL - Changes in Economy." CEPAL - Changes in the Distribution of Income and the New Economic Model in Jamaica. CEPAL, 2005.
“Jamaica Gleaner” Rich-Poor Gap: Jamaica. GLEANER, July 2013.
"Jamaica." Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption. Heritage, 2014.
Ewin, James. "Jamaica and Economic Growth - Columns." Jamaica Observer News. Jamaica Observer, 2012.

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