KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Audley Shaw has welcomed the release of the 2018 Jamaica Survey of Establishments (JSE) Report, noting that the data obtained will assist in informing Government’s decisions relating to businesses.

Speaking at the presentation of the report by the Planning Institute of Jamaica at the AC Hotel in Kingston yesterday, Shaw noted that the vast majority of persons surveyed had not accessed loans targeted for their development, and encouraged the owners of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to embrace the opportunity to make their businesses formal and transparent in order to access financing.

The minister emphasised the need for businesses to develop a business plan with a view towards expansion into the export market, to which, according to the report, only 2.8 per cent of the businesses surveyed directly provided goods and or services.

The JSE is the first of its kind in Jamaica and is aimed at providing valid empirical evidence on the establishment landscape in Jamaica that will assist the public and private sectors in strategy, policy and programme formulation decisions.

According to the ministry, the survey targeted 35, 287 urban establishments that employed three or more persons on a continual basis as well as medical, dental and legal offices, irrespective of size.  It was conducted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica with funding from the World Bank through the Foundations for Competitiveness and Growth Project.

Of the 35,287 establishments identified, 18,613 employed less than three persons while 8,516 employed three or more employees with the two most frequently occurring types of economic activities being wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (35.6 per cent) and accommodation and food services (11.4 per cent). Two thirds of the establishments were headed by males and 53.2 per cent of the employees were female, the ministry said.

It further outlined that as it relates to information and communication technology and alternate energy use, 75.9 per cent of business reported using the computer, 66.3 per cent used the Internet with the two most frequently occurring activities being sending and receiving of emails (94.5 per cent) and getting information on goods and services (73.6 per cent).