By Susan Smith, Staff Reporter 
The honourees at the recent Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica Job Creation awards ceremony. From left are: Karl Graham, director of e-Services International; Lyn Kee Chow, director of Pickappepa Company Limited; and Sean Nieve, general manager of T.G.I. Friday's. The ceremony was held yesterday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel on Waterloo Road, St. Andrew. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
JAMAICA NEEDS to institute sound government policies and concentrate on some sociological factors of importance in order to regain international competitiveness and productivity, advises Leader of the Opposition and Member of Parliament for West Central St. Catherine, Dr. Kenneth Baugh.
He said, sound government policies are necessary to attract investments back into the
country, some of which were lost with the poor handling of the wave of industrialisation in the 1980s and 1990s.
DEFICIENCIES
"We lost out because of the push factors of our deficiencies," he said. "When other countries have investors, they roll out the red carpet; our country rolls out the red tape," he added, pointing out that the closure of the 807 garment industry led to the
closure of business enterprises and factories.
Dr. Baugh made his recommendation while addressing guests at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's (PSOJ) job creation awards
ceremony for the month of February, held at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel, St. Andrew,
yesterday.
He commended the recipients of the awards for their ability to create jobs in a marketplace
with such desperate needs for employment.
He outlined that there are
deficiencies in the public sector's fiscal operations, because of
certain policy decisions, resulting in an increased public sector workforce by over 30,000 people, along with an increase in wages.
Additionally, he said the surplus experienced in public sector fiscal operations between 1992 and 1996 has now been reduced to a deficit of 6.3 per cent to eight per cent of GDP.
CONTRIBUTING FACTOR
Dr. Baugh also cited public sector borrowing as contributing to the demise of the economy. "As a consequence of public
sector borrowing, our debt today is 150 per cent of GDP or $700 billion, coming from $30 billion in 1990," he said.
Three companies which were awarded at this month's PSOJ Job Creation ceremony are, T.G.I. Friday's, e-Services Group International and Pickapeppa Company Limited.
Pickapeppa Company Limited received the special award for continually creating jobs for a period surpassing 70 years. The company celebrated its 80th anniversary in June 2001. The other companies received awards for having created more than 25 new employment opportunities within the last six months. T.G.I. Friday's has created over 90 employment opportunities, while e-Services Group International has a workforce of 1500 employees.
