Jamaica is being urged to invest in the purple economy, which is focused on professionalising care work to meet the growing demand for elderly care services, while driving economic growth.

International population and development specialist Dr José Miguel Guzman, made the suggestion, while delivering the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s (PIOJ) recent Dialogue for Development Distinguished Lecture at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

The purple economy aims to transform care work, which is now largely unpaid, into a structured, productive sector to boost employment.

Guzman said that care employment must be treated as critical resilience infrastructure.

He noted that Jamaica can no longer rely on the “hidden architecture of society,” which is the unpaid care work primarily performed by women, that often fractures during disasters such as Hurricane Melissa.

“We cannot build national resilience on the back of informal, unpaid, and untrained labour,” he said.

“Investing in this infrastructure offers a double dividend; it reduces the catastrophic costs of disaster recovery for families and serves as a massive engine of job creation,” he pointed out.

Guzman said that care work also provides a strategic response to what he describes as a “perfect storm of demographic decline”, characterised by a shrinking and ageing population.

He noted that the country’s fertility rate currently stands at 1.9 live births per woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1.

In addition, the demographic structure is shifting toward older age groups, with a rising population of persons age 65 and over and a declining proportion of children. This is compounded by migration, with many tertiary-educated professionals leaving the country every year.

Guzman said that the demographic changes represent an opportunity for the country to train younger persons to deliver services to the older population, creating employment opportunities, and helping to retain labour locally.

The Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2024 indicates that the country currently benefits from a favourable demographic window, characterised by a strong working-age population capable of supporting dependents.

With a median age of 31 years, the report notes that the country possesses a significant human capital reserve that can be incentivised to enter the care and service sectors.

Guzman noted that by training the shrinking youth cohort in disaster protocols and geriatric care, the state can solve two problems at once – providing meaningful, non-offshorable employment for youth while building the human grid of support that older persons need to survive future shocks.

“This approach transforms a demographic liability into an economic asset, ensuring that the recovery from future shocks does not come at the cost of long-term development or widening inequality,” he noted.