Holness warns youth against crime as fast track to wealth
Government to engage 20,000 youth in summer jobs
Published:Wednesday | June 18, 2025 | 12:10 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
“Economistic” young people who believe they can use criminality as the fastest route to “wealth and riches” are “sadly mistaken”, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has warned.
The warning came on Tuesday as Holness disclosed that some 20,000 young people would soon be engaged by various public bodies for summer employment while also recounting his involvement in summer work during his teen years.
Males accounted for over 90 per cent of murder victims in Jamaica, including 80 per cent who are between ages 14 and 29, the same age range as those targeted for the Government’s summer employment programmes.
Over 90 per cent of the perpetrators are within the same age band, the prime minister noted.
“There are many youngsters who are thinking economistically and they may be saying that ‘the best way for me to use my time and get the fastest return is to get involved in a criminal activity’,” Holness said yesterday.
“But if you believe that by getting involved in crime you are going to make a profit because the risk of being caught is low, you are mistaken. Sadly mistaken,” he said at the launch of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development’s Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP).
Asserting that his administration had invested over $90 billion in the country’s security infrastructure, Holness said: “It is very risky to be a murderer and a hitman in Jamaica today.
“And the youngsters who are considering joining gangs, it is very risky to be a gang member today.”
YSEP involves approximately 10,000 young people between ages 14 and 29 who are either in high school, university, or “some advanced level of education”, according to Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie.
WEEKLY EARNINGS
He also announced that participants in this year’s programme would be paid $17,000 per week “tax free”, a marginal increase over the old weekly rate of $15,000 and slightly more than the national minimum wage.
“Those of you who are going back to school, forget about the parties, the nice hairstyle … . Use the revenues that you earn to assist you to go back to school to build on your education,” he urged the participants.
Over a one-month period, starting July 7, they will be engaged by municipal corporations and other agencies that fall under the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.
Administrative support, field work and data collection are among the primary tasks they will be assigned, Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby disclosed during the launch ceremony.
McKenzie said the work of the participants over the years has assisted local authorities in collecting necessary data related to street lighting, derelict buildings, illegal garages, and identifying senior citizens that need assistance.
Holness recounted how his mother insisted, during his teenage years, that he participate in the Government’s summer employment programme.
“My mother was a civil servant in the Ministry of Social Security, and so she always ensured that if I’m not with my father on his farm in the summer, that I was doing some summer work at her ministry,” he said.
His primary tasks at the time, he said, were to encourage senior citizens to contribute to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and assist the social security ministry with the updating of NIS cards.
“Twenty, 30 years ago, or more than that, the system was not digital … so you would have to take application forms and transcribe from one form and put it on a card, which would become the NIS card, to update the paper-bound NIS database,” Holness said, describing some of his tasks.