Wayne Chen, President of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF), is advising students to research market demands before choosing a field of study. His advice comes in light of data indicating that only 16% of Jamaica's labor force, or approximately 234,300 individuals, hold university degrees, according to the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ) 2024.
Education Statistics
The World Bank reports that Jamaica's tertiary education enrollment rate was 26% in 2015, a decrease from 27% in 2012. Total tertiary enrollment for the 2024-2025 academic year reached 87,191 students across 34 institutions, an increase from 84,971 in the previous year. Females account for a significant portion of tertiary enrollment, with 58,609 females enrolled compared to 28,426 males. This disparity results in a gross enrollment rate of 34%.
In 2024, 17 new higher education institutions were registered, bringing the total to 151. Of the 16% of degree holders in the workforce, females make up 63.4%. The ESSJ 2024 also showed that 54% of the labor force, representing 792,700 persons, attained upper secondary education, with 54.8% being male.
Labor Force Data
The total labor force size in October 2024 was 1,468,300 persons. Males accounted for 53.7% of this figure (789,100 males), while females made up 46.3%. Data also shows that 687,500 people were outside the labor force in October 2024, with the majority being females (60.8%). Youth aged 15-24 constituted the largest proportion (42.8%) of those outside the labor force. Jamaica’s unemployment rate reached a historic low of 3.5% in October 2024.
Chen's Perspective
Speaking to The Gleaner, Chen stated:
“What we have to move towards is a workforce that has a greater penetration of certified, marketable skills. Having a skill in something that the market doesn’t want is not helpful, but there are many skills in demand in the workforce that we just don’t have.”
He added:
“It reflects that the university graduates are working.”
Chen also emphasized the importance of developing employability skills.
“Being able to work in teams, being able to manipulate technology, being able to think critically; this is what we’ll have to teach our people.”
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