According to a Bill Johnson Poll, most Jamaicans feel their country is moving in the wrong direction. According to the poll findings, citizens are concerned that there are no jobs, no security and that there is no light at the end of this very long, dark tunnel called life in Jamaica.

Supporters of the ruling People's National Party, especially the rabid ones, say Johnson has no credibility. They might have a point, given how the voting public returned the PNP in power in 2011, contrary to what Johnson's polls had predicted back then. Those poll numbers were not even close to what the actual results were as the PNP blew the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) out of the water in a landslide victory.

Notwithstanding the lack of credibility, there is some credence to the latest poll numbers, for while I don't agree that Jamaica is going in the wrong direction, I do see why most Jamaicans would feel that way.

Unemployment

Earlier this year, there was a report; I think it was from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) that said unemployment was down as more than 25,000 Jamaicans had found jobs. But if that was the case, why are so many Jamaicans saying there are no jobs?

The answer lies in the quality of the jobs that are available. I know people who have 'jobs' that are really not jobs. Take for example, someone working a 12-hour shift at a small hotel that pays them a criminal wage of $6500 a week, is that a job? Can a person eat, travel and take care of themselves on J$26,000 a month?

Let's say that person works in Kingston and lives in Portmore, transportation is going to cost that person about J$2000 a week. Then lunch another J$2000, each week. Those two expenses alone come to $16,000 for the month. Nobody pays anything less than about J$5000 for light bills these days and water costs about $2000, which takes basic expenses up to $23,000 for the month. We haven't even considered rent, groceries, and other basic needs including medical bills. Basic math tells you that that it would be better for someone not to work for that kind of money because it costs you more to work than not to.

On the other side, there are graduates who can't find jobs, period. They have invested in getting a tertiary education and are realising that there is no return on their investment. It is tragic.

Real tragedy

The other real tragedy is when criminals prey on the poor who are already having a hard time just getting by each day. Those four employees of China Harbour Engineering Company who were shot dead and robbed of the payroll for workers on the final leg of Highway 2000 were just hard-working folks doing their jobs, and the money stolen from them was to pay poor, hard-working souls, many of whom have no idea how they are going to make it to the next pay cheque.

Medical staff

This country also has people dying on hospital floors because the medical staff is overwhelmed. The country is being over-run by chikungunya, which has already claimed too many lives, so you can't blame people for feeling the way they do.

It is something I don't think the party fanatics understand. The economic programme that we are now enduring is essential because we have been living beyond our means for so long, the time has come to pay the piper. We have to curb spending and produce more. This is still a work in progress, but moving in the right direction.

However, while we inch our way towards the light, that is still a long way off; many of us on the ground can't even see the glimmer because we are so deeply buried in debt and depression and frustration.

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