Finance and Planning Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has put the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in charge of a feasibility study on unemployment insurance, or UI.

The idea has been tossed around for many years as a safety net for workers who are separated from their jobs through cuts or other changes in fortunes and need short-term support. COVID has given the issue new urgency.

Jamaica still needs to answer the basic question of how the scheme will be paid for and determine whether its benefits outweigh the costs.

Clarke says the feasibility study, which was one of the considerations of the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force that he led, will be done under the auspices of the National Social Protection Committee chaired by the PIOJ.

“This detailed feasibility study is necessary because a reform such as this would have difficulty standing on its own. It would necessarily involve other reforms such as possibly labour-market and social-security reforms,” Clarke told the Financial Gleaner.

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