Productivity Important to National Development – Mr. Gallimore

Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Andrew Gallimore, has said that if Jamaica is to be competitive in the global arena it is essential for the country’s productivity to increase.
Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ session, at the agency’s head office in Kingston, on Tuesday, October 14, Mr. Gallimore emphasised that the Jamaica Productivity Centre’s (JPC) upcoming Productivity Conference, will go a long way in generating more awareness of the importance of productivity to Jamaica’s growth and development.
“Productivity is important, and the nation needs to be made aware of this. Therefore the productivity conference will focus on public education. The Productivity Centre in fact, has a number of initiatives but this conference in particular will bring to the public’s attention the importance of productivity” Minister Gallimore informed.
The Conference will be held over a three day period, on October 28 and 29 at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston and on October 30 at Breezes Runaway Bay Hotel in St. Ann, under the theme ‘Going the distance for global competitiveness’.
Highlighting the fact that Jamaica’s productivity levels are way below that of some of its Caribbean counterparts, Minister Gallimore reiterated the need for all players to take the issue of productivity seriously.
“Jamaica is at a critical stage where we are going to be competing literally for our lives and our livelihood. It is of utmost importance for all our players to take productivity seriously because we have not been taking it seriously for the last three decades,” he pointed out.
In the meantime, the State Minister is praising the JPC for the work it is doing in making young people aware of the importance of productivity.
“The Productivity Centre has undertaken several initiatives and one is to travel around the country and address young people in fifth and sixth forms in schools about productivity. This will help to shape their minds and get them to understand the importance of productivity,” he asserted.
“This is great because when they graduate and get into the working world they would easily understand what productivity means,” he added, while outlining that the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the JPC and the Heart Trust/NTA, is also a fundamental step in the right direction towards productivity growth.
“The JPC also took the initiative to sign an MoU with the Heart Trust/NTA, which is Jamaica’s number one training institution for our young people to get into the workforce. The Heart training ensures that part of the training is for young people to understand the importance of productivity,” Mr. Gallimore informed.
The productivity conference is the first of its kind to be hosted by the JPC. Over the past two years the JPC has hosted a productivity awareness week. However this year it has been changed to a three-day conference and its main goals are to foster a productivity improvement culture among Jamaicans through public education; and expose private and public sector managers to practical approaches to productivity improvement.
The partners for the conference are the JPC, the Ministry of Finance MoU3 and Heart Trust/NTA.