Senate clash over whether Jamaica’s youth see a future at home

TOMLINSON...they speak openly about their desire to leave and seek opportunities elsewhere (Photo: Naphtali Junior) BY LYNFORD SIMPSON

Observer writereditorial@jamaicaobserver.com March 29, 2026 Senate clash over whether Jamaica’s youth see a future at home MINISTER of Education, Youth, Skills and Information, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, has sought to rubbish claims by Opposition Senator Cleveland Tomlinson that young professionals are leaving the country in despair because they see no future in Jamaica. Tomlinson, the youngest of the 21 senators, made the claim in the Senate during his contribution to the debate on the 2026/27 Appropriations Bill last Friday.

According to Tomlinson, who represents the People’s National Party (PNP), despite young people being told by the Government that their voices matter and they represent the future, a different picture emerges whenever he engages with them.

“I hear something different, and I talk to them — they’re my peers. Sometimes I would post clips of me on social media, and the young people would tell me, ‘I’m proud of you,’ because they see themselves with what is happening here, in terms of someone from their generation.

“But what they say after is what usually breaks my heart. They would say, ‘Senator, I don’t see a future for me here.’ They speak openly about their desire to leave and seek opportunities elsewhere,” said Tomlinson.

He told the Senate that when he asks them: ‘In the face of tightening immigration policies and the growing uncertainties up north, are you still willing to go?’ The answers are usually sobering as “they say, ‘I rather take my chances up there than stay here’.” Morris Dixon fired back during her contribution to the debate, first arguing that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government has embarked on a raft of policy initiatives aimed at improving both the education and financial outcome for young people.

The minister said many of the JLP’s election manifesto promises are already being implemented, pointing out that construction is slated to start this year on two of the promised six STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) schools.

“This budget has provisions for the undertaking of the first two,” she remarked.

“We said we would create stronger pathways from learning to earning and now we’re doing exactly that through the Tertiary LEAP Programme. We said we would expand access to skills training and we’re now advancing one of the boldest steps in that direction for Jamaicans.

“We said we would modernise apprenticeship and now apprenticeship 3.0 is taking real shape. We also said youth advancement can’t be separated from the realities of adult life; it cannot be enough to prepare our youth and then leave them locked out of housing, stability, and independence,” said Morris Dixon. Continuing, she said: “Our manifesto promised an increase in allocations for National Housing Trust (NHT) [housing solutions]…the same is true for essential public sector workers.

We said that teachers, nurses, firefighters, and members of the security forces would benefit from NHT mortgage reductions and they’re all done and are all in our budget.”

“It’s not just talk,” Morris Dixon declared before addressing Senator Tomlinson directly, telling him: “I note your point about young people wanting to leave Jamaica, and I’ll say to you that that was the experience I and my colleagues at university had.” Morris Dixon said she started attending The University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1998, “in the middle of the 18 years of devastation [of the PNP Government].

“I will tell you that my classmates that were in the economics programme at [The] UWI and in the other programmes at [The] UWI — the majority of my classmates left Jamaica,” she said.

“Why did they leave Jamaica?” ” she asked, providing her own answer, “Because of the policies of the PNP. And I’m talking about back when I was at university.” Morris Dixon told the Upper House that when she left Jamaica to study economics and international relations in the United States, “I had to talk about the Jamaican economy and I always felt embarrassed about where our economy was, why we weren’t speaking in positive terms about our economy.

That was 2004.

“Our country was an example of an economic basket case. Now, today, if someone leaves Jamaica and goes to study in any of the universities I would have studied in, they can hold their head high…because of the policies of this Andrew Holness-led Administration,” the Government senator insisted. She asserted: “Our students don’t have to hang their head in shame when they hear about the Jamaican economy.

In addition to that, youth unemployment in 2015 was over 30 per cent, the last set of data we had, youth unemployment was at 10.6 per cent…and if we look at the numbers in the United States, if we look at the numbers in foreign, their youth unemployment rate is at 10.8 per cent. Those are the kinds of numbers we have to talk about,” she said. Data from TheGlobalEconomy.com has consistently ranked Jamaica among the top nations for “human flight and brain drain”, frequently placing it second, globally.

As of 2024/2025, Jamaica was ranked third globally with a score of 9.2, previously holding the second-place position for several years behind Samoa, according to data from the World Bank and other agencies. A significant number of teachers, nurses, and other professionals leave Jamaica each year for better economic opportunities in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom, primarily.

Morris Dixon

…our country was an example of an economic basket case. Now, today, if someone leaves Jamaica and goes to study in any of the universities I would have studied in, they can hold their head high (Photo: JIS)