Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie, has described the 2024 Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP) as the largest of its kind in the Caribbean region.
During the 2024 YSEP launch at William Knibb Memorial High School in Martha Brae, Falmouth, Trelawny recently, McKenzie announced that a total of 10,000 young people are to be employed over a one-month period. Each participant is to be paid $60,000 for the period.
“It is the first Jamaica has experienced a youth summer employment programme of this magnitude and I am going to say that it is the largest youth summer employment programme in the Caribbean,” McKenzie said.
In delivering the keynote address immediately after McKenzie’s remarks, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in addition to the 10,000 YSEP workers, another 10,000 will participate in Government summer programmes this year.
He said HEART/NSTA will absorb 4,000, another 1,200 by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), as well as summer employment by other Government agencies.
“The Government of Jamaica is doing over 20,000 summer jobs. This will include what other ministries will be doing on their own and what other entities are doing on their own. So when you put them all together; big ones with what Local Government is doing, what TEF is doing, what HEART is doing, but the various Government ministries and entities are also employing on their own,” the prime minister said.
McKenzie underscored that among the feature of this year’s YSEP, which is to begin in the second week of July, will be a strong emphasis on the homeless population.
“Right across the country, participants who will be assigned to the Poor Relief Department will undertake a survey of the size of our homeless population,” McKenzie stated.
