Compensate us on exporting human capital
published: Wednesday | February 5, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
DELROY CHUCK asked in his commentary titled "Exporting Human Capital" on Wednesday, January 29, 2003: "How can Jamaica truly and really benefit when the best and brightest, the skilled and educated, the trained and experienced, parade and use their talent abroad?"
I proposed the following in an effort to answer this question since we are a free society: Jamaica should put a "labour garnishment" on the agencies recruiting our people. By this I mean, they should pay us (Jamaica) a monthly fee for the use of our human capital overseas for the duration of the employment. After all, we (Jamaica) trained them, we invested in them, therefore we should get our return. Literally they are getting a free ride.
This wage garnishment should apply to all Jamaicans who were trained in Jamaica. Let's face it, we cannot afford to export our talent when we are struggling.
