CXC
Caribbean Examination Council
School Based Assessment (S.B.A)
2014

Name: Tasheika King School: Port Antonio High School Centre #: ____10097_________ Candidate #: ____1440______________ Teacher: Miss Raymond

Table of Contents
Titles Pages Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Statement of the Problem …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Research Questions……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Method of Investigation……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Instrument Used to Collect Data……………………………………………………………………………………………
Procedure used to collect Data………………………………………………………………………………………………
Presentation and Explanation of Data …………………………………………………………………………………..
Interpretation and Analysis of Data……………………………………………………………………………………….
Findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Recommendation and Implementation Strategy……………………………………………………………………
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Acknowledgement

They are a few persons the researcher owes a great deal of gratitude for the successful completion of this study. Firstly, the researcher would like to share her gratitude to the residence of Fellowship for their cooperation and participation. Secondly, a special thanks to the researcher’s father for his constant encouragement and for being their every step along the way. Finally, the researcher would like to thank her Social Studies teacher, Miss Raymond for her guidance throughout this study.

Introduction Unemployment is a social issue that have been a plague in the community of Fellowship. This is a small farming and residential community made up of approximately hundred and twenty residents (120). Fellowship is located in Jamaica, Portland. It is approximately five miles from Port Antonio, the capital of Portland. Sixty percentage of the population of Fellowship is of mixed descendant, twenty percent African and the other twenty percent are Indians. These person are mainly Christians of different denominations and others with no religion. Fellowship
Fellowship

Diagram showing a map of Jamaica.
Unemployment is a situation where individuals in the labor force, who is capable and willing to work but has not yet found a job or isn’t willing to work. The researcher has chosen this topic because it breaks her heart to see so many unemployed individuals in her community. As a result, the researcher wants to find out what measures can be put in place to alleviate the problem. To do this the researcher has to find out what are the causes of unemployment in Fellowship. Secondly, the researcher has to find out the effect on the individuals who are unemployed. Thus, the researcher will be able to find measures that can be taken to increase employment opportunities in Fellowship.

Topic: Unemployment
Statement of Problem:
To what extent does unemployment affects the individuals involved and what measures can be put in place to increase employment opportunities in the district of Fellowship?
Research Questions:

I. What are the main causes of unemployment in the Fellowship district? II. What are the effects of unemployment on the unemployed individuals?

III. What can be done to increase employment opportunities?

Reasons for Selecting the Area of Research

The researcher has been observing this issue that is affecting the country of Jamaica for many years now and it breaks the heart to see how many people are unemployed and how it affects them. Since 2005- 2010 the rate of unemployment has risen drastically in Jamaica. As a result of this individuals have turned to criminal activities and many other social issue such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, and street children.
Unemployment do not only affects the individuals involved, but the people around them also. Therefore this problem needs to be dealt with immediately. The researcher wouldn’t hesitate to eradicate unemployment once and for all, unfortunately however, this is impossible. Nevertheless the researcher still wishes to do something to alleviate this issue, with the hope starting from the community she has been living for her entire life. Therefore the researcher has chosen this area of study with the hope of finding some means of alleviating this problem.

Method of Investigation

In order to collect data for the survey, the interviewer decided to use printed questionnaires. The questionnaires used as a tool for collecting information was used because of its merits. These include: * It requires little time to be completed. * It can be done at the respondent’s convenience. * It is guaranteed confidentiality, since respondents are not allowed to attach their names on it. * It allows data to be collected from large numbers of persons. * It makes it possible to compare response of respondents. * It can be used to collect data that can be represented in statistical form.

Data Collection Instrument

Survey determining: “To what extent does unemployment affects the individuals involved and what measures can be put in place to increase employment opportunities?”

Dear Residents,
This is a survey being carried out in the Fellowship district to determine to what extent does unemployment affects the individuals and what measures can be put in place to increase employment opportunities in the Fellowship district. This is being conducted as the school based assessment for a Social Studies course I am currently pursuing at Port Antonio High School.
You are kindly asked to answer the questions on the questionnaire honestly. You are not required to write your name. Thus, this is confidential. Remember this is not a test they are no right or wrong answers. Most of the question can be answered by a single tick, like this. Therefore this will not be time consuming, or difficult. Specific instructions are given where necessary.
Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,
Tasheika King

Procedure Used to Collect Data

Fellowship has approximately 120 households. It was calculated that a sample of 20% was necessary in order to ensure accurate conclusions on the extent to which employment affects the individuals involved and measures that can be put in place to increase employment opportunities in Fellowship. (20% of 120= 24) Precisely thirty (30) questionnaires were printed and distributed to the residence. It was expected that at least 26 will be returned. When selecting the households the researcher used random selection. This was done by writing the number of the houses in the community where unemployed individuals are residing on a piece of paper. Each pieces of paper was put in a box. After shaking the box for three minutes to ensure it was mixed thoroughly. A number of thirty slips of paper was taken from the box, one after the other, while each slip of paper was been taken from the box the box was shaken after each slip of paper was taken from the box. The researcher specifically selected 30 households where unemployed individuals are living. The questionnaires was given to respondents directly with a note to return to the Post Office. In few cases where respondents were not at home questionnaire was left with someone of the household.

Presentation and Explanation of Data

Out of the thirty (30) questionnaires that were distributed to the unemployed residence in Fellowship a total number of 27 was returned, only 25 questionnaires was used. Of the 25 only 13 were male and 12 were female. That is, 48% were female and remaining 52% were male.

Figure 1. Pie Chart showing the Causes of Unemployment in Fellowship.

Figure 1 shows the causes of unemployment in Fellowship. Most of the unemployed population are unemployed because there is no jobs available nearby. That is 64% of the unemployed individual in Fellowship. While 12% are unemployed because they have a disability or an illness, 16% because they have been laid off and 8% are unemployed because they were dismissed from work.

Figure 2. Bar graph showing the reason for the prevalence of unemployment in Fellowship.
Figure 2 shows the respondents responses to why unemployment is so prevalent in Fellowship. Significantly 60% of the respondents believed that the reason why unemployment is so prevalent in Fellowship is because individuals did not received adequate training and skills, while 3 believes it is because people quit their jobs because of low wages, 8% suggested that it is because of the poor working conditions people quit and 20% refuse to work.

Figure 3. Histogram showing the major causes of unemployment.

Figure 3 shows the major causes of unemployment. The majority of individuals who are without jobs are unemployed because they refuse to go into agriculture, this is 54%. While 30% are unemployed because they are inexperience thus no one wants to hire them, 8% are because they are fulltime students or retired.

Figure 4. Pie chart showing the effect of unemployment?

Figure shows the effect of unemployment on the unemployed population of Fellowship. The majority (40%) of the unemployed population face emotional problems, while 20% have financial problems, 16% social problems and the other 24% have family problems.

What are the main effect of unemployment? | Effects | Percentage of individuals | Number of Respondents | Resort to unhealthy method of relieving stress | 24% | 6 | Resort to criminal activities | 16% | 4 | Migrate from community | 40% | 10 | Involve in illegal/ unhealthy methods of passing time | 20% | 5 |

Table I. Showing the main effect of unemployment?
The table shows that significantly 40% of the individuals have to migrate, 24% have to resort to unhealthy method of relieving stress, 16% resort to criminal activities and 20% get involved in illegal/ unhealthy method of passing time.

Figure 5. Show ways to create more employment opportunities?

Figure 5 shows that 20% of the respondents believes that encouraging of small business venture can create more employment opportunities. While 24% believes that cottage industry must be encouraged, 48% to encourage agricultural practices and 8% believes that encouraging technical education would create more employment opportunities.

Figure 6. Bar graph showing measures to alleviate unemployment?

Figure 6 shows measure to alleviate unemployment in Fellowship. These most likable measure by respondents are increase of wages, 40% recommends that wages. While the 24% respondents choose that better working conditions would alleviate unemployment. Whereas 20% believe that encouraging studies in areas where jobs are available and 16% believes that to set up programs to help people find jobs would help to alleviate unemployment.

What measures can be taken by the government to help reduce unemployment? Responses | Number of Respondents | Percentage of individuals | Raw materials can be used to generate new products | IIII IIII | 36% | Control birth rate | lll | 12% | Improving infrastructure in agriculture | Illl ll | 28% | Market tourism more vigorously | llll l | 24% |

Table 2. Tally chart showing the measures that can be taken by the government to help reduce unemployment?

The table shows that most individuals suggests that the government can reduce unemployment by generating new products from raw materials 36%, while the other recommends that the government controls the birth rate 12%, improve infrastructure in agriculture 24%, and to market tourism more vigorously 28%.

Interpretation and Analysis of Data

In the district of Fellowship unemployment is caused by several reasons, one of the main causes of unemployment is that they are no available jobs nearby, that is 60%, as presented in figure 1. As a result individuals are searching for jobs but yet to find any. This is because Portland is a rural area, thus job opportunities are scarce because few business are located in these rural areas. This is because market are closer in urban areas, transport which is an important factor supporting access to markets; closeness to raw materials, availability of appropriately skilled employees, opportunity for waste disposal, availability of power supplies, availability of land and government incentives which pulls business to the urban areas. Therefore it can be concluded that most unemployed persons are capable and willing to work but are unemployed because of the unavailability of jobs in Portland. A significant causes of unemployment is that individuals do not have adequate training and skills to be qualified for the jobs available. Whereas 60% cannot get jobs because they do not have the adequate training and skill. According Dr. Errol Morrison, the President of University of Technology said: “Most individuals are ill-equipped, inadequately prepared or insufficiently trained for the jobs they perform.” Hence, many people are without jobs because of the few jobs available most people are not qualified to get the job. Evidence from International Labour Organization shows that ‘Rural people’s access to education and training is often limited by financial barriers (e.g. training and transportation costs) and non-financial barriers (e.g. scarce education and training infrastructure, inflexible training schedules). Especially for poor rural children and adults, the opportunity costs for education and training may be too high to give up their income-generating activities and unpaid duties that help sustain their families. Many rural people do not have basic education. This also hampers their access to technical and vocational training or other skills development. Unequal gender relations and traditional gender roles entail specific difficulties for rural girls and women in accessing education and training. Education and training is often of inadequate quality. Teachers and trainers may be unqualified, equipment and technology outdated, and teaching and training methods ill-suited to rural contexts.’ Thus there are so many people who are unqualified, hence there is such a large population of unemployed individuals in Fellowship. Based on the data collected 44% of the individuals are without jobs because they refused to go into agriculture. This is because adequate infrastructure are not available in these rural areas. Therefore they are limited access to agricultural input, and agriculture market. They are poor roads, slow technological development and emerging markets in more urban areas. “A lack of access to markets - whether due to poor infrastructure or productivity, limited education, or insufficient information - prevents access to both labor and capital. In many rural societies, there are few job opportunities outside of agriculture” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural poverty). As a result agriculture is seem as an unattractive, unprofitable and degrading area of work. Thus many people don’t want to go into agriculture especially young individuals. According to Tyrone Hall, Compton International Fellow, Clark University, and LIGI´s Head of Communication “youth participation in the agriculture sector in many developing countries is very low, largely because the sector is highly unattractive—due to risks, costs, inefficiency and its labor intensive nature”(Local Insight). However, in rural areas they are few other job opportunities from agriculture, rendering many people jobless. Unemployment have several effects on the unemployed population of Fellowship. One of the main effect of unemployment are the emotional and Psychological problems it causes. Figure 4 shows that 40% of the unemployed are affected psychologically or emotionally. According to sociologist research claimed that, ‘work gives people a sense of identity, of what their role in society is. It is source of relationships of the family.’ (Sociology, Themes and Perspectives). Therefore when individuals are unemployed they lose their sense of identity and purpose, plus they face lot of break down in their relationships. In addition when most individuals are unemployed they cannot live up to their usual standard of living or cannot afford to take care of their family and themselves as they would wish. This causes them to become stress and depressed according to The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Also “unemployed workers are twice as likely as their counterpart to experience psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, low subjective, wellbeing, and poor self-esteem”. Additionally, a high number of individuals have experienced family problems because of unemployment, figure 4 shows that 24% of the unemployed population of Fellowship faced family problem. When individuals are unemployed they face financial problems which results in family problems because one is not able to provide for his self and family, which in some cases causes partners to become divorced, separated, it also causes domestic violence in homes because some partner become stress due to not having a job, so they become angry, frustrated and stress. Because of this they become abusive to their partner or child. “Stress and depression symptoms associated with job lost can negatively affect parenting. As a result children report more distress and depressed and abusive.” Abuse of children can cause multiple negative outcomes, including academic performances, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency and many others which do not only affects the family but has a lot of negative implications on society. Another significant effect of unemployment based on the data collected is that unemployment causes individuals to migrate away from their community which consist of their family, friends and loved ones. Table 1 shows that 35% of individuals migrate from their family, to different countries, parishes or community in the search for jobs because of the lack of jobs nearby. As a result this influenced many family problems because when parents travel away and leave their child in others supervision, the child lacks love, socialization and guidance from parents which results in juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, child or children get involved in gambling or drug abuse . According to the Module in Social Studies, third edition, by Rampersad Ramsawak and Ralph R. Umraw, “There is increasing evidence that this (juvenile delinquency) is a reaction to growing up in dysfunctional families where children are not wanted, unloved, abused and humiliated.” When individuals migrate from Fellowship to work in foreign countries, brain drain. Individuals in Fellowship recommended a number of solutions to creating employment opportunities. The most recommended solution was to encourage agricultural practices because this way individuals would be self-employed and can provide for their family. According to figure 5, 48% percentage of the respondents indicates that emphasis on agricultural practices would increase employment opportunities. This is supported by the Module in Social Studies, third edition, by Rampersad Ramsawak and Ralph R. Umraw, “When one considers that a man cannot survive without food, then the demand for agricultural products will never cease. ‘The agricultural sector has a great potential for creating jobs.’ The agricultural sector must consequently become a prior of all governments”. Additionally, many of the respondents, that is 40% believes that the increased of wages would increase employment because people wouldn’t quit their jobs to find better paying jobs. The Principle of Business for CSEC Examination by Ivan Waterman, Dave Ramsingh and Alvin Ramsaroop states that: “The wage structure in the Caribbean economies has had an important effect on unemployment.” The Daily Observer, Saturday, April 13, 2009, article by Michael Dingwall says that “the conditions under which they (workers) must work are not being satisfactory. They are ‘underpaid’, taken for granted and as is too often the case taken for granted.” People who are underpaid feel as if their rights are violated and that they are exploited, as a result of this they quit their job to find better paying jobs, however many of these people remain unemployed because of the unavailability of employment. Another significant solution suggested by respondents is that the government should use raw materials to generate new products. Table 2 illustrations that 36%believes using raw materials to generate products would increase employment opportunities. This way more jobs will be created in manufacturing industries. Therefore individual who don’t have the training or skills to work in other area such as administrative, management and others can get jobs in factories. This is supported by the Module in Social Studies, third edition, by Rampersad Ramsawak and Ralph R. Umraw, which states that “Many of our local materials which are at present exported in their raw state can be used to generate new products… thus creating jobs.” An article in The Gleaner, October 20, 2011 states that “too many imports are flooding the island”, this because raw materials are not used to create new products, thus almost every product has to be import to Jamaica. Based on the data collected 24% suggests that if tourism is market more vigorously, it would help to create thousands of jobs for individuals. The Module in Social Studies, third edition, by Rampersad Ramsawak and Ralph R. Umraw reports that “tourism sector has a great potential to create jobs in variety of occupation.” This is true because the increase in the tourism industry cause more people to go in farming, so that they can sell produce to tourists and hotels and other tourist attraction sites. It also create more jobs at the hotels, villas, spa; it would create more demand for taxi drivers, tour guide, rafters, and artists. Evidence from Vision RI also shows that ‘tourism with its wide range of constituent sub sectors is now world's largest industry. The dramatic growth of tourism over the last twenty five years is one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the period’. Also that “conservative estimates of tourism related employment (base year 2002) by our professionals reveal that tourism generates about 7.5 million full time job equivalents in India. It translates to about 11 million actual jobs” and “the employment impact of tourism goes beyond employment in sectors in which tourists directly spend their money, such as hotels, restaurants and airlines.” Therefore tourism would be supportive in creating employment opportunities.

Findings

The survey carried out has discovered several facts about the extent to which unemployment affects the individuals involved and the measures that can be taken to increase employment opportunities in Fellowship. These includes: 1. The main causes of unemployment in Fellowship is that they are no available jobs nearby, they do not have adequate training or skills and because they refused to go into agriculture. 60% are unemployed because they are inadequately trained, 60% no available jobs nearby and 54% because they refused to go into agriculture.

2. The most significant effect of unemployment on the individual involved is that is causes psychological or emotional problems, family problems and increased migration. That is 60% of the unemployed individuals experienced psychological problems, 40% faces family problem and 40% migrate away from the community in the search of jobs.

3. To create employment opportunities the government should use raw materials to create new products, market tourism better and encourage agricultural practices. The survey carried out shows these are the best solutions recommended to alleviate unemployment. The data collected shows that 36% believes that unemployment can be alleviate by using raw materials to generate new products. While 24% believes that unemployment can be unemployment can be reduced by marketing tourism more actively and 48% believes in encouraging agricultural practices. Recommendation and Implementation Strategy Recommendation The key to economic growth is to reduce unemployment which consequently would reduce other prevalent social problems. Therefore in the interest of making Fellowship into a pleasant community, the residents, and the government would work together to create more employment opportunities. One of the most recommended solution is that the Government should encourage agricultural practices, this way individuals can sell their crops to local and or foreign market as well and they would also have food for themselves and family consumption. Therefore increase individuals in agriculture would be very beneficial because it can also create more employment for skilled and unskilled individuals. Additionally, the government should market tourism more vigorously to create employment. Tourism would create job opportunities in many areas, hotels, clerks, chefs, artisans and many others. Tourism activity has long lasting socio-economic impacts on the host economy and community. The establishments which receive tourists also buy goods and services from other sectors that generate employment in those sectors through multiplier effect. The government should use raw materials to create new products and import less which would create more employment opportunities and less money be spent on importation of goods. This way more jobs will be created in manufacturing industries and individual who don’t have the training or skills to work in other area such as administrative, management can get jobs in factories. This is a very important recommendation because sixty percentage of the individuals who are unemployed in Fellowship is because they do not have adequate training and skill. Therefor e this would make a tremendous difference in the number of unemployed individuals in Fellowship.

Implementation The Caribbean soil and temperature is ideal for farming, however the number of persons who refused to go into agriculture is surprising. Specifically, youth’s involvement in agriculture is low, mostly because sector is very unattractive due to risks, costs, inefficiency and its labour intensive nature. As such, motivating individuals of Fellowship to view agriculture as a potential career would require multi-level intervention. The government would try to make agriculture appear more attractive and profitable to lure more individuals towards agriculture. Ways in which the government intended to do this is by: * Since many individuals are turned off by the problems affecting the agricultural sector such as land price, larceny and lack of investments. Subsequently, the government makes it easier for individuals to go into agriculture by reducing price for lease and purchasing agriculture land, and to create and encourage agricultural Investment Trust through tax incentives to direct private investment in agricultural sectors. This would make agriculture more appealing, thus influencing more individuals to become involved in agriculture. Therefore, creating more employment opportunities for individuals in Fellowship. * The researcher would encourage residence of Fellowship to focus more on labour intensive crops, for example sugar cane, because the production of these crops requires a large labour force, thus lot of unemployed persons would be able to get a job in these areas. As a result increasing job opportunities in and around Fellowship. * The government will increase infrastructure in agriculture because based on the survey done it is concluded that 44% of the unemployed individuals are unemployed because they refuse to go into agriculture as a result of the lack of infrastructure available in agriculture. This cause agriculture to become more difficult and unprofitable, thus driving people away from this area of work. The tourism sector will create ways to market tourism better so that employment can be create. To do this the sector would have to increase the number tourist vacating in Jamaica and increased satisfaction ratings of tourism in Jamaica. The sector will do this by understanding the motivations and preferences of visitors in their decision-making and travel planning process and how these behaviors change over time; identifying appropriate visitor markets that ‘fit’ the destination attractions and experiences and align with community values; Developing a ‘Strategic Marketing Plan’ to provide direction for destination marketing activities. Also by developing a stakeholder agreed, strong and recognized destination brand and image that is underpinned by the values and unique point of difference of the destination; facilitation of a process to engage stakeholders to implement key marketing activities including: relevant promotional and advertising actions to influence visitor perceptions, awareness and destination choice; effective sales and distribution channels to enable conversion of intention to visit into actual visitation; and development of cooperative marketing programs with tourism organizations and businesses to provide resource synergies and increased visitation potential for a destination. This will increase the number of tourist’s destination as Jamaica, thus increasing employment opportunities in tourism, hence reducing unemployment in Fellowship.

Bibliography

Ramsawak Rampersad and Umraw R. Ralph. Modules in Social Studies with S.B.A Guide and C.X.C Questions. Trinidad: R.P.L Ltd., 2005.
Waterman L. Ivan, Ramsingh Dave and Ramsaroop P. Alvin. Principle of Business for CSEC Examination.
Haralambous and Holborn. Sociology, Themes and Perspectives. N.P. Harper Collins Publishers Limited, 2007
Blair Leonard. The Sunday Gleaner. May 23, 2014.
Dingwall Michael. The Daily Observer. April 13, 2000. P.9
The Herald. 14-20/08/05. P.3B

Appendix
Questionnaire

1. What is your gender? a. Male b. Female

2. Which of the options below best describes your age? a. 16- 20 yrs. b. 20-25 yrs. c. 25- 30 yrs. d. 30-35 yrs. e. 40 yrs. and older

3. To what ethnic group do you belong? a. African descent b. Chinese descent c. Indian descent d. Mixed descent

4. How long have you been a resident of Fellowship? a. 1-5 yrs. a. 5-10 yrs. b. 10-20 yrs. c. 20yrs and more

5. Have you ever been employed? b. Yes c. No If yes please state where ___________________________

6. Why are you unemployed? a. No available jobs near by b. Have a disability c. Have been laid of d. Suffer great illness

7. Why is unemployment so prevalent in Fellowship? a. Individuals do not have adequate training and skills b. Refused to work c. Quit job because of bad working conditions d. Quit job because of low wages

8. Which of the following is the major cause of unemployment? a. By choice b. Refuse to go into agriculture c. Full time student d. Retired

9. How does unemployment affect you emotionally? a. Lower your self esteem b. Caused you to feel embarrassed c. Caused you to feel depress/ distress d. Caused you to feel restless

10. How does affects you socially? a. Caused you to become divorced b. Caused you to be unable to give your child suitable c. Caused you to be unable to give you and your family proper health care d. Caused people to look down on you

11. Which of the following is the main effect of unemployment? a. Emotional effects b. Financial problems c. Family problems d. Emotional/ Psychological problems

12. How unemployment affects the individual involved? a. Caused individual to migrate from family b. Caused you to in involve in unhealthy method passing time c. Caused you to resort unhealthy method of relieving stress d. Causing individual to turn to criminal activities

13. An individual who is unemployed mostly financial difficulties? a. Agree b. Strongly agree c. Somewhat agree
d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

14. What can be done to create more employment opportunities? a. Encourage agricultural practice b. Encourage small business venture c. Encourage cottage industry d. Encourage technical and vocational education

15. What measures can be taken by the government to help reduce unemployment? a. Raw materials could be used to generate new products b. Control high birth rate c. Improving infrastructure in agricultural areas d. Tourism should be market more vigorously

16. What can be done to reduce unemployment? a. Create special education programs for disabled individuals b. Doing your own fishing c. Raising your own live stocks d. Give loan to individual who wants to go back to school to pursue career

17. What measures may be put in place to alleviate unemployment? a. Better working conditions b. Increase wages c. Encourage studies in areas jobs are available d. Place more emphasis on career choices in school