Bowman – More needs to be done to create jobs

A call has been made for alternative strategies to assist in job creation.{{more}}

Chairman of the National Insurance Board, Lennox Bowman, speaking at the opening ceremony of the CARICOM Social Security Reciprocal Agreement Wednesday, February 9, said that more needs to be done in the creation of jobs for persons under thirty, a factor he noted was of serious concern to social security practitioners in the country.

Bowman noted that St Vincent and the Grenadines does not have a high level of employment when compared to other countries of the region.

“We have to look at collective measures; how to pool our resources,” he said.

Bowman criticized the typical approach, or what he termed as too much focus on instruments, where the revenue generated is used to help build international communities and not those of the region.

“We also have weird systems for job creation,” he explained.

But he further contended that while we were not collecting from the informal sector, there was still the formal sector which social security felt obligated to help.

“Disadvantaged and poor workers need representation, participation and laws that work in their interest,” Bowman said.

Social security must, therefore, continue to lead progress, especially in small states such as those across the region Bowman said. (DD)