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An additional $1.5 billion will be paid out to beneficiaries under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), with new increases in both contributions and benefits, for 2013. Acting Director of the NIS, Portia Magnus, said the benefit increases include old age, sugar worker, invalidity, widow/widower’s pension, and orphan and special child allowances. She explained that benefits for old age, invalidity, and...

Beginning in September 2013, approximately 230,000 students will receive a breakfast supplement under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH). Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, made the announcement during a national broadcast on Sunday (January 6), in which she addressed several wide ranging topics following her first year in office. In other education related matters,...

Effective January 7, the National Insurance wage ceiling will increase by $500,000 to $1.5 million. The wage ceiling is the basis on which individual contribution to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is calculated. Labour and Social Security Minister, Hon. Derrick Kellier, first made the announcement during his 2012/13 Sectoral Debate presentation in Parliament on July 25 and issued another reminder...

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, is advising Jamaicans seeking jobs overseas through private employment agencies to first contact the Ministry to verify their legitimacy. "Members of the public are being strongly reminded to verify the authenticity or legitimacy of employment agencies, prior to making any commitments or sending payments through any remittance services," Minister Kellier said...

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, has charged the first batch of farm workers to be dispatched for 2013 under the Ministry’s Overseas Employment Programme, to be good ambassadors for the country. The 172 workers, 50 of whom will be travelling for the first time, will leave the island for Canada on a chartered flight on Thursday,...

Approximately 20, 624 individuals have gained employment under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), which is now in its second phase. The project, which was launched in March this year, is one of the strategies of the  Government to respond to the chronic unemployment status of some Jamaicans, particularly those in the lower socio-economic strata, persons with special needs as...

The Government is planning to establish a branch of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) in Montego Bay, St. James, next year. This was disclosed by Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, during the IDT’s Christmas luncheon, held at Heather’s Garden Restaurant in New Kingston, on December 13. “Come next year, we will be looking more deeply into...

Some 18 persons, who are benefitting from temporary work in the food processing industry under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), are to be permanently employed at the end of their 26-week stint. The workers have been employed to Southern Fruits and Food Processors in Bull Savannah, St. Elizabeth since July, through the efforts of the Ministry of Labour and...

The House of Representatives has approved amendments to the National Insurance Act, resulting in increased benefits to contributors. In piloting the Bill in the House on December 11, Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, said that the proposed changes are based on a recent actuarial review of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). “The amendments will ensure the...

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, says the proposal to introduce an unemployment insurance scheme in Jamaica is part of a larger thrust to reform the labour market. The Minister was addressing the opening of a two-day Labour Market Forum to discuss: ‘Reforming Jamaica’s Labour Market: Social Protection through Unemployment Insurance’, at the Jamaica Conference Centre, on...

The Early Stimulation Programme (ESP) hounoured its six founding members on Wednesday (December 5), at an awards ceremony held at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s North Street office in Kingston. They are:  Dr. Marigold Thorburn, Family Nurse Practitioner, Joyce Brown, Daisy Mitchell, Matilda Brown, Dorothy Fuller, and Janet Ricketts. Director of the Centre for Disabilities Studies at the...

The Early Stimulation Programme (ESP) will be hosting an awards ceremony in honour of its founders, at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, 1F North Street,  in Kingston, on December 5, starting at 2:30 p.m. Director of the ESP, Antonica Gunter-Gayle, said that the purpose of the ceremony is to highlight the work of Dr. Marigold Thorburn, and Family...