KINGSTON, Jamaica—People’s National Party (PNP) Shadow Minister for Finance and the Public Service, Julian Robinson, has warned that the country’s record low unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent masks the fact that the majority of Jamaicans are in low-paying or contract work with no benefits.

This, he said is in a context where more than half of Jamaicans are facing food insecurity, with only Haiti, among Caribbean countries, in a worse position than Jamaica.

Robinson highlighted the problem while making his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate at Gordon House on Thursday.

About the record low unemployment, Robinson said “on the surface, it is good news that more Jamaicans are engaged in work. However, while we acknowledge the low unemployment rate, we must ask: What kind of jobs are being created?”

Robinson said a closer look at the labour market reveals a troubling reality—“many Jamaicans are working in contract-based and precarious jobs with little to no security. They earn unstable incomes and lack basic employment benefits such as paid sick leave, vacation leave, and maternity leave”.

“Even more alarming, only a small percentage of the workforce can expect a pension in retirement. This is not the hallmark of a thriving economy. This is the consequence of Jamaica’s low-wage economic model,” Robinson added.

He also pointed to a January 2025 report by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which found that between 2021 and 2023— “a staggering 55.1 per cent of Jamaicans experienced moderate or severe food insecurity”.

He noted that this was during a period when the economy should have been rebounding from COVID-19 and long before the impact of Hurricane Beryl in July 2024.