GOVERNMENT Senator Abka Fitz-Henley has defended the Andrew Holness-led Administration’s track record in managing the country since it returned to office in 2016, and fired back at criticisms from the Opposition that ordinary Jamaicans are not feeling the impact of positive developments in the economy.

The Government senator cited the recent record low unemployment rate which was announced by Statistical Institute of Jamaica last week as evidence that sections of the masses are feeling the impact of what he reasons is the Government’s competent managing of the economy.

Senator Fitz-Henley commented on the view expressed by some Opposition senators, including Gabriella Morris, during the State of the Nation Debate that the macroeconomic gains are not impacting many Jamaicans. Fitz-Henley rebutted the argument as he closed the State of the Nation Debate on Friday.

“I wish to use one of many variables to address directly the ‘unnu a manage di economy but nobody nah feel it’ narrative. In 2015, when the People’s National Party was in office, the unemployment rate in Jamaica was 13.5 per cent. The current Government of Jamaica, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Holness, put in place a ministry which, among its duties, is job creation and economic growth. The prime minister created the ministry and took charge of it; some people scoffed, but what is the outcome? A positive outcome,” Senator Fitz-Henley told Parliament.

The Government senator reiterated his point by highlighting that a range of Jamaicans are benefiting from new jobs created.

“It comes, therefore, as no surprise that just last week the Statistical Institute of Jamaica indicated that unemployment is at a record low of approximately 4.2 per cent; approximately 140,000 people who did not have a job when we came to office now have jobs. Unemployment is down by approximately 70 per cent since 2016. This is strong evidence that leadership and innovative policy-making matter, and this Administration is achieving positive outcomes for the people”, Fitz-Henley said.

The senator said, too, that the benefits of the Government’s job creation initiatives are not limited to only those who occupy some of the new jobs created.

“Technocrats at some of the agencies which monitor these things tell us that, on average, each new job holder supports between 2.5 to 2.9 people. That’s just approximately 400,000 Jamaicans who have ‘felt directly’ the impact of the Administration’s good management of the Jamaican economy and innovative policy making. So while we accept that much more is to be and will be done, I dismiss as disingenuous and misleading this notion being advanced by the Opposition that ‘unnu a manage di economy well but nobody nah feel it’. Colleagues, today we mash down that narrative as false,” Fitz-Henley told the Upper House of Parliament.