KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister Andrew Holness says his administration is prioritising the upskilling of Jamaica’s workforce as part of the overall strategy to grow the economy.

He said as the country continues to meet its debt targets and create the fiscal space needed to implement major development projects, investments will be made to equip Jamaicans with the skills to utilise new technologies to support sustainable development.

“The secret to growth [is] not just access to financing or borrowing. There is a significant element of [investment in] developing human resources, because the new industries and enterprises that will come into the economy will rely heavily on the upskilling of our labour force,” he said.

“So, we’re spending quite a bit of time and effort now in trying to upskill and ensure that we have a labour force that can meet the jobs of the future,” Holness added.

Holness was speaking in a recent interview with the United States-based news network, Bloomberg TV.

He cited investments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), logistics as well as business process outsourcing as key sectors.

“Jamaica, by virtue of a geographical blessing, is central to most of the shipping routes in the region, so logistics is a natural industry for us and we have started in that area. Services, business process outsourcing and global services… We are investing in those areas. We are investing in STEM to ensure that our population can indeed attract the jobs of the future,” Holness underscored.