KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Cabinet is expected to receive the final report from the Labour Market Reform Commission by June 30.

Labour and Social Security Minister, Shahine Robinson, said the report will facilitate more fulsome discussion on the body’s recommendations arising from its review of key elements in the labour market, which was undertaken during the 2016/17 fiscal year.The focus areas, she said, include education and training; productivity, technology and innovation; labour policies and legislation; social protection; and industrial relations.The Minister was making her 2017/18 Sectoral Debate presentation in the House of Representatives on yesterday, under the theme ‘Securing the Future Now for the Next Generation’.She used the opportunity to thank the members of the Commission, chaired by Dr Marshall Hall, as well as representatives of that body’s subcommittees, for their work towards achieving labour market reform, which, she noted, is “critical to securing the future for the next generation”.Robinson also thanked the 660 employers participating in the Ministry’s National Labour Market Survey, the report for which she tabled during Wednesday’s sitting of the House.She noted that 65 per cent of the participants canvassed had indicated their intention to recruit additional staff as a result of their short- to medium-term business outlook. “Demand will be greatest for skilled workers in production and services. Our challenge, therefore, is to build on training and certification and employability skills.The work of the Ministry’s on-the-job training programmes, as well as the work experience and internship programmes offered through the Ministry’s Electronic Labour Exchange, Steps-to-Work, Social Intervention Programme (SIP) and the Abilities Foundation are steps in the right direction,” she said.Robinson said the Ministry remained “deeply grateful” to public- and private-sector entities “that collaborate with us through the provision of jobs that will lift vulnerable young persons from a state of welfare into well-being”.She noted that productivity remains at the core of the Government’s agenda for a prosperous Jamaica.She cited the improvement in the country’s competitiveness ranking in the Global Competitiveness Report, which moved from 86 in 2015 to 75 in 2016, as a “significant achievement” and indicative of positive growth in total factor and capital productivity.“I invite my fellow Parliamentarians to join me in becoming productivity champions (and) I invite the leaders of all public-sector organisations to become productivity ambassadors,” Robinson said.