Informal Sector Workers to Get NIS Benefits

• For the first time, Jamaica’s household helpers and fisher folk will be able to secure pension benefits under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as the Government moves to formalize these sectors. This will be facilitated under the Transition to Formality Action Plan, which will provide them with access to health and life insurance, pension and other facilities to offer security and protection in their work environment. 
• This follows the growing trend in many developing countries of workers being employed in industries that are unregistered or do not comply with the minimum standards of labour legislation or in some cases Decent Work. The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) defines Decent Work as productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. 
• Jamaica’s national action plan, which is a tripartite collaboration among the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) and the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF), seeks to encourage micro, small and medium-sized, as well as large entities to embrace systems that make the process of transitioning to formality seamless. 
• The project’s development goals are to reduce the informality in work and workers engaged in the domestic, agricultural and fishing industries in the first instance. It also seeks to increase the formalization of agricultural and fishing business units and increase the institutional capacity of employers and organizations representing these industries. 
• This process will prove beneficial to workers’ as they will now have a retirement benefit. It should also improve the overall attractiveness for jobs, and potentially increase the supply of labour. An increase in persons seeking jobs could improve private consumption, and in the long run, allow them to maintain a better standard of living after retirement.

(Source: JIS & NCBCM Research)