... Unemployment limits income mobility

THE 2015 Jamaica Labour Force Survey reported that an estimated 48,600 young people in Jamaica aged 14-24, or 37.6 per cent of unemployed persons in the island, are disconnected – not employed or in school.

This is a serious challenge that has a disproportionate impact on individuals in low-income communities, as well as on young adults without post-secondary education credentials.

The research indicates that paid youth employment programmes that connect young people to education, training and the job market can be effective tools in keeping them on a trajectory for future success.

Through its corporate social responsibility efforts, PwC, and specifically its scholarship programme, has funded the completion of final-year studies for more than 22 students. In addition, PwC has global mobility programmes that give employees the opportunity to work and live in other territories, another pathway to honing leadership skills and building a more diverse workforce. Since the inception of the scholarship programme in 2009, at least 80 per cent of participants have gone on to gain full-time employment at PwC and progress to senior roles.