KINGSTON Jamaica — The Government will be taking steps to develop legislation to establish the long talked about unemployment insurance scheme during the 2026/27 legislative year.

This was disclosed by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen on Thursday as he delivered the 2026 Throne Speech at Gordon House to mark the start of the new parliamentary year.

Sir Patrick said this will be achieved through amendments to the National Insurance Act and related laws.

He told the joint sitting of the Parliament that the long stalled Occupational Safety and Health Bill has progressed through multiple drafting stages and is expected to proceed to Parliament in 2026/27.

The governor general also spoke to the development of a national productivity-measurement framework, and the creation of an Occupational Safety and Health risk-management toolkit, all of which will reside in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Meanwhile, the head-of-state highlighted that following Hurricane Melissa, the Government “executed one of the largest and fastest social response operations in Jamaica’s history”. He shared that more than 75,000 damage assessments were completed within the first 100 days and over 90,000 by the first week of February. This was done using the upgraded JHDINA Lite platform and a real-time national dashboard, supported by over 700 committed volunteers, with over 400 of of them drawn from ministries, departments and agencies and citizen volunteers.

“Recovery efforts have now moved decisively into shelter restoration with the launch of the Shelter Recovery Programme, including the Restoration of Owner and Occupant Family Shelter (ROOFS) Programme, the largest housing-recovery initiative ever undertaken in Jamaica, with more than J$10 billion initially allocated, of which J$2 billion has already been disbursed,” Sir Patrick said.