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Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness
Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness says the government is concerned that young people are turning to gangs instead of seeking meaningful employment.
Speaking Thursday at the groundbreaking and contract signing ceremony for the Westland Expansion Project at the Kingston Port, Prime Minister Holness warned that Jamaica is losing its human resources to crime and the gang culture.
He said, as a result, companies are struggling to find skilled labour.
"One of the challenges we face as a country is we simply are not able to, for the next decade, identify the labour force that will be necessary to carry the growth. It's a problem that you're going to feel the crunch in the next decade, in the decade coming, even though you're starting to see it now. But it is something that we have to really, really, really think about.
"And it is a real challenge that we are losing so many of our good human resources, our good talent, our good labour, because they are tied up in crime. They don't want to come out of the gangs. They don't want to leave their communities. They take a negative attitude, an anti-social attitude towards work, and what that does, it locks them into that for the rest of their lives. And some of the social commentary reinforces and supports them there, right, without realising that they are doing them a disservice, when the social commentary should be encouraging them to come out of crime, put down the gun, put down the thug lifestyle, and go and find a work," Dr. Holness reasoned.
The Prime Minister added that the government will continue its push to dismantle gangs, which have been recruiting young men and women to their network.
"Yes, there must be no compromise on human rights, but that doesn't say you must not be firm and decisive and instrumental in dealing with crime and violence, because that firm and instrumental approach will be beneficial to you, but it is also beneficial to that youngster," he suggested.
The Westland Expansion Project will result in a more than 25% increase in container storage space at the Kingston Port.
The initiative is a partnership between the Port Authority of Jamaica and the Kingston Freeport Terminal, and is an investment of more than US$80 million.
It will create 500 new jobs.