Making employment a Macroeconomic Priority: Emerging Policy Discourse in the Caribbean

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (ILO News) - Caribbean economies are growing again albeit at modest rates. But are they creating enough decent jobs — the kinds of jobs that give people income, security and a real chance to build a future?

That question was at the heart of a two-day expert workshop in Port of Spain, on "Shaping Growth for Jobs: Expert Workshop on Pro-Employment Macroeconomic and Sectoral Policies for the Caribbean", held from 25 to 26 June 2026. Convened by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean with collaboration of the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO), it brought together senior officials from ministries responsible for labour, finance and economic affairs and national planning, Caribbean employers' and workers' organizations, regional institutions, academia and partner UN agencies.

The workshop was built around a forthcoming ILO study, "Jobs, Growth and Resilience: Macroeconomic and Sectoral Policies for the Caribbean". Its starting premise is direct: restoring growth is necessary, but not sufficient. In small, open economies, growth that does not create productive employment, support formalization or build resilience can leave vulnerabilities untouched.

Across the region, the post-pandemic rebound has been uneven. Tourism-dependent economies recovered as travel resumed, while Guyana's oil-led expansion has pulled regional averages upward. However, many countries still face narrow export bases, high import dependence, constrained fiscal space and climate, food, fuel and financial shocks. Youth unemployment remains three to four times the adult rate, informality affects many workers, and women still face lower participation and higher unemployment than men.

“Growth without inclusion is unsustainable, and social justice cannot endure without productive economies. Jobs provide the critical link between the two.”– Joni Musabayana, Director ILO Caribbean office.

What pro-employment really means

The core message was that employment cannot be treated as a hoped-for by-product of growth. Pro-employment macroeconomic and sectoral policies mean designing fiscal, monetary, investment, industrial, trade, skills, labour market and social protection policies so that they deliberately support decent work. Every major economic decision should ask: what will this do for jobs, productivity, inclusion and resilience?

That changes the policy conversation. At the workshop, a clear message shared with participants was that a national budget is not only a financial document; it is also an employment signal. Public investment in skills, digital infrastructure, care services, productive infrastructure and climate resilience can create jobs now while expanding future capacity. Social protection can sustain demand during downturns. Tax incentives and public spending can and should be reviewed through an employment lens, asking whether foregone revenue is generating decent jobs, productivity gains and formalization.

An integral part of the workshop, the sharing of experiences and lessons from Africa added a practical dimension. Through real-life examples from various African countries, it was clear that pro-employment budgeting does not have to mean creating a separate employment budget or simply increasing resources for ministries of labour. Instead, Caribbean participants were exposed to ways of integrating employment objectives across the existing budget cycle - preparation, allocation, execution and evaluation - and attaching employment indicators to programmes and sectors so governments can compare choices, monitor results and build accountability.

“Across the Caribbean, as elsewhere, growth has too often failed to deliver jobs. The reason is straightforward: economic policies are often designed to raise output, not necessarily employment. Growth and jobs are therefore treated as separate policy concerns, even though labour-market performance is shaped by fundamentally macroeconomic forces. The workshop aimed to bridge this divide, shedding light on the employment effects of macroeconomic policy and offering practical guidance to ministries of finance, planning and labour.” Abdelmalik Muhummed, Employment and Labour Market Specialist, ILO

The sectors that make the jobs

Tourism remains one of the Caribbean's most important sources of work, but the pandemic exposed its fragility: travel and tourism employment fell by 25.8 per cent in 2020, with an estimated 708,000 jobs lost. Agriculture contributes a small share of GDP in many countries, yet accounts for around 30 per cent of regional employment, including more than 2.3 million workers. The circular economy, renewable energy, digital services, care economy and blue economy also offer potential, if shaped around productivity, job quality, skills, social protection and a just transition.

For policymakers, the challenge is coordination. Labour ministries cannot carry the employment agenda alone. Ministries of finance, planning, economic development, tourism, agriculture, education and energy, as well as central banks, need shared data, common objectives and mechanisms for joint decisions. Labour market information systems are the necessary evidence base for deciding which sectors to support, which skills to develop and for identifying which groups are being left behind.

Formalization also emerged as a central test. Informality cannot be reduced only by enforcement or registration campaigns. It requires enterprise support, simplified procedures, access to finance and markets, labour inspection, social protection extension and policies that make formal work more viable. For young people, women, own-account workers and microenterprises, the pathway into formality must be credible and useful.

The Port of Spain workshop did not offer a single formula. Rather, it sought to reframe the choice. Countries can pursue stability while protecting job-rich investment, support tourism while upgrading job quality, strengthen food production and regional value chains while reducing import dependence, and invest in climate and energy resilience while preparing workers and enterprises for a just transition.

The next step is practical: place employment at the centre of macroeconomic decision-making, measure it, budget for it and discuss it through social dialogue. For the Caribbean, making growth work for jobs is a policy discipline - and a development choice.