Readiness of Jamaica as a Location for IT Investments - FullReport

Location Readiness Index Jamaica

ABSTRACT

Diagnostic study of the IT-based services industry in Jamaica conducted

leveraging the Location Readiness Index (LRI)

Developed in collaboration with

LOCATION READINESS INDEX 2

LOCATION READINESS INDEX................................................................................................... 3

I. TALENT POOL INDEX .................................................................................................................... 6

II. COST INDEX ............................................................................................................................. 9

III. QUALITY OF INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX ......................................................................................... 11

IV. RISK PROFILE INDEX ................................................................................................................ 13

V. ENVIRONMENT INDEX .............................................................................................................. 15

VI. MATURITY OF INDUSTRY INDEX ................................................................................................. 18


Location Readiness Index

A quick diagnostic of the IT-based services industry in Jamaica has been conducted leveraging

the Location Readiness Index (LRI) - a modeling tool developed by the World Bank in

partnership with McKinsey & Co. designed to help countries identify existing gaps and

weaknesses and allow policy makers to prioritize the areas that are more important for

increasing the overall location attractiveness of a country. The figure below presents the six

criteria evaluated for the LRI assessment, which are: (i) Talent Pool Availability; (ii) Cost

Structure; (iii) Quality of Infrastructure; (iv) Key Risks; (v) Overall Environment; and (vi) Sector

Maturity.

Figure: Location Readiness Index (LRI) framework

Talent

Pool

Market

Maturity

Environment

Quality

of

Infrastructure

Cost

Risk

Profile


The LRI scores are in the range of 1 to 5 and the figure below shows their interpretation:

Figure: Interpreting LRI scores

The LRI assessment was conducted for Jamaica in comparison with Kenya – an emerging

industry leader in Africa region, and Armenia – an emerging IT/ITES leader in Europe and

Central Asia region, as a way to benchmark Jamaica’s position in terms of readiness as an

outsourcing destination for IT-enabled services. United States of America were considered as

the main potential outsourcing market for Jamaica.

This preliminary analysis shows that Jamaica is a relatively competitive destination for an

investor aiming to develop an off shoring IT-enabled industry. Jamaica shows relative

competitiveness in terms of generalist talent pool, costs, and industry maturity, however,

there is still a critical need to establish a competitive knowledge and IT processing talent

pool, improve the quality of infrastructure and mitigate country risks, and further develop

the business environment in order to become a truly hospitable offshore destination for

IT/ITES.

The figure below presents a comparison snapshot of the LRI scores along each of its six

dimensions. Countries compared are: Jamaica, Kenya and Armenia.

1

Extremely favorable

•Country is ready to attract IT/ITES industries on all points

2

Favorable

•Most of the criteria are favorable

•Low level of additional preparation is required to attract the IT/ITES industries

•Minimal policy intervention is required by the government

•Investors will be ready to invest

•Focus is on active outreach programs

3

Action needed

•With a clear roadmap, country will be attractive over the next 1–2 years

•Significant government intervention is required to change policies and attract the IT/ITES industries.

4

Significant action needed

•Either talent is not available or cost is not favorable.

•Multiple other areas are not favorable

•Significant actions are required to attract the industry

5

Not ready

•All areas need significant improvement:

•No cost arbitrage

•Talent not available

• Perception of high-risk country

•No availability of class A infrastructure

•Unreliable telecommunications and communication networks


Figure: Jamaica comparison charts

2.4

2.1

1.8

3.0

3.2

3.5

2.2

3.2

3.9

1.4

4.2 3.8

3.9

4.2 3.1 4.8

2.5

3.0

2.8


Talent

Cost

Infrastructure Risk

Environment

Industry Maturity

Generalists - Data

Jamica LRI=2.32 Kenya LRI=3.18 Armenia LRI=3.12

2.4 1.9

2.0

3.0 3.2

3.5

2.2

3.3

4.4

1.4

4.2 3.8

3.9

4.2 3.2 4.9

1.9

2.5

3.0

2.8


Talent

Cost

Infrastructure Risk

Environment

Industry Maturity

Generalists - Voice


3.4

2.5

3.0 3.2

3.5

2.2

3.5

4.8

1.5

4.2 3.8

3.9

4.2

3.2 4.9

2.0

2.5

3.0

2.8


Talent

Cost

Infrastructure Risk

Environment

Industry Maturity

Knowledge Process


3.5 5.0

2.7

3.0 3.2

3.5

2.2

3.4

4.6

1.4

4.2 3.8

3.9

4.2 3.2

1.8

2.5

3.0

2.8


Talent

Cost

Infrastructure Risk

Environment

Industry Maturity

IT Services



I. Talent pool Index

Together with the existence of a competitive telecommunications market, the availability of a

skilled talent pool is the single most important factor in the growth of an IT-based services

industry. The talent pool assessment in the LRI diagnostic calculates the (i) Suitability, (ii)

Willingness, (iii) Accessibility, and (iv) Trainability of university graduates in subjects that may

be of interest to companies operating in the IT/ITES industry. Calculations were carried out for

each of the four traditional IT/ITES business lines classified as following: Data Processing, Voice

Processing, Knowledge Processing, and IT services.

Based on the annual statistics from the Ministry of Education, Jamaica produces around 97.6

thousand high school and tertiary graduates who may be employed in the IT/ITES industry each

year. Jamaica ranks the 85th for the Higher Education and Training pillar of the 2011-2012

Global Competitiveness Rankings published by the World Economic Forum. With a score of 3.9

out of 7, Jamaica scores higher than Kenya (94th) but lower than Armenia (76th).

Nonetheless, the assessment suggests that compared with Kenya (3.89) and Armenia (4.79),

Jamaica (2.70) shows a relative high proportion of graduates suitable for data processing. This is

largely due to a relatively high number of high school and university graduates in a general

discipline (around 90 thousand). Additionally, there is a high number of English speaking work

force, as the official language in Jamaica is English. The talent pool index for voice services is

assessed at 1.9, which is much higher compared to Kenya (4.36) and Armenia (4.88) for the

generalists-voice group.

However, Knowledge Processing (4.78) and IT Services (4.95) are two groups where Jamaica is

scoring very poorly in terms of talent pool readiness. Jamaican tertiary institutions produce

around 6 thousand graduates with degrees in business management and accounting that are of

interest to the Knowledge Processing sector. To this group were added another 4 hundred

graduates with degrees in arts and media that are of interest to creative industry as part of the

Knowledge Processing sector. Nonetheless, even with relatively high percentage for suitability,

accessibility, and willingness, the ready to hire population for Knowledge and IT groups are very

small and score extremely poorly.

The assessment suggests that out of 97.6 thousand graduates with potential to be employed in

the IT/ITES sectors only 76 thousand are actually ready to be hired, and an additional 11

thousand could become suitable provided that they get a training of maximum six-month. The

figure below shows how the ready to hire population was calculated for Jamaica.


Figure: Jamaica’s Ready-to-Hire Population

Graduate category

Total graduates (thousand)

Suitability (percent)

Accessibility (percent)

Willingness (percent)

Ready to hire (thousand)

Trainability (percent)

Potential Talent Pool

(thousand)

90

35.3

40.6

90

37.5

42.8

6.4

2.6

2.8

1.2

0.6

0.6

TOTAL

76

87

The Suitability, Accessibility, Willingness, and Trainability estimates are based on the insights

from a focus group comprised of the JCS Governing Council members. The group integrated 12

experts with experiences in varying segments of the local ICT sectors. Participants used their

on-the-ground knowledge of the industry to arrive at consensus on each of these estimates.

Among their considerations were listed:

a) The level of educational attainment of the profile of potential participants in the four

broad categories;

b) The physical and transportation environment and its impact on proximity for access;

c) The source of potential catchment for talent for each of the four categories;

d) The actual experiences with current call center operations;

e) Their historical knowledge of data entry modes;

f) In the absence of actual local implementations of KPO and IT Services, generating

projections as to what would obtain within those domains.

Estimates for call-centers (General-Voice) category were independently validated in parallel

with the HEART/NTA agency that conducted some level of analysis in this sector for a limited

geographic region last year.

Generalists

Data

70

%

80 70 20

Generalists

Voice 70

85

70 20

Knowledge

Processors 80 80

65 15

IT

Specialists 85 85

65 10


The table below compares Jamaica’s LRI scores for the talent pool size and quality with those of

Kenya and Armenia in four different business lines.

General - Data General - Voice Knowledge Process IT Services

Jamaica Kenya Armenia Jamaica Kenya Armenia Jamaica Kenya Armenia Jamaica Kenya Armenia

I. Talent Pool Index 2.70 3.89 4.79 1.90 4.36 4.88 4.78 4.79 4.90 4.95 4.61 4.96

Ready to be hired / Willingness 2.2 4.0 4.8 2.0 4.5 4.9 4.8 4.8 4.9 5.0 4.6 5.0 Potential / Trainability 1.7 3.7 4.7 1.6 4.0 4.8 4.8 4.7 4.9 5.0 4.6 5.0


II. Cost Index

The cost index calculation of the LRI is made up of two main components. The first component,

Hourly Cost of Doing Business, takes into account the hourly cost per full time worker doing a

particular job required to keep an IT-based services firm running. The second component

measures the incentives offered by the government authorities to companies operating in the

IT/ITES industry. The figure below shows Jamaica’s cost of operations expressed in Full Time

Equivalent (FTE).

Figure: Jamaica Cost of Operations

US$/FTE/Hour Generalists – Data Generalists – Voice Knowledge Process IT Services

Labor 7.57 10.06 15.09 17.80

Facilities 2.82 2.69 3.38 3.64

IT/Telecommunications 0.59 0.58 0.52 0.59

SG&A 1.22 1.48 2.11 2.45

TOTAL $12.2 $14.8 $21.1 $24.5

As detailed in the figure above, the cost of operations has been broken into four categories:

Labor, Facilities, IT/Telecommunications, and Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A)

expenses. Labor costs include not only the salaries for direct employees, but also salaries for

management and support staff. Note that the comparative low cost of employment for

engineers in the IT sector is due to their low support and management expenses.

The cost analysis suggests that Jamaica has a competitive cost base, largely due to relatively low

wages paid. According to the Jamaica Employers Federation’s 2011 Annual Salary and Benefits

Survey of Technical, Professional, Supervisory and Clerical Employees, Volume II and salary data

from JAMPRO (Jamaica Promotions Corporation), the salary range for fresh graduates who are

of interest to the industry is around $520 up to $1,900 per month. Salaries for specialists

employed in the IT services sector being at the highest end. Mid-managers are reported to earn

a monthly salary between $1,000 and $3,265.


For all the business lines the average labor cost in Jamaica is higher compared to Kenya (GD-

$2.91, GV-$4.3, KPO-$5.7, IT-$4.6) and Armenia (GD-$5.6, GV-$6.7, KPO-$8.1, IT-$4.7).

However, the average rental price of $20 sqft/month for the highest-class office space is similar

to Kenya’s ($20.16) and lower than Armenia’s ($23).

FLOW, a major Jamaican broadband operator, is charging $490 per month for leased lines on

island. This price is similar to what broadband operators are offering in Armenia, but nearly one

ninth the $4,500/month price in Kenya.

According to JAMPRO, the government of Jamaica is supporting the industry through a number

of free trade zones such as IT Parks, as well as single entity free trade zones for individual

companies, which does not necessarily have to be located in an IT Park. These zones offer large

tax exemptions, no tariffs, reduced or no VAT, and tax benefits for expatriates for unlimited

time. However, the government should direct its efforts even more on incentives and

infrastructure support for business operating in this sphere, because poor government support

can become a significant bottleneck in attracting foreign investments.

The table below compares Jamaica’s LRI scores on the cost dimension for Fully Loaded Cost and

Incentives with those of Kenya and Armenia for four different business lines.

General - Data General - Voice Knowledge Process IT Services

Jamaica Kenya Armenia Jamaica Kenya Armenia Jamaica Kenya Armenia Jamaica Kenya Armenia

II. Cost Index 1.79 1.38 1.77 1.99 1.38 1.86 2.46 1.46 2.04 2.71 1.44 1.78

Fully loaded cost/FTE/hour

1.2 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.1 2.1 1.1 1.4 2.4 1.1 1.0

Incentives 3.5 2.5 4.0 3.5 2.5 4.0 3.5 2.5 4.0 3.5 2.5 4.0


III. Quality of Infrastructure Index

The quality of infrastructure index was measured along four different categories, collecting a

total of nine indicators to analyze the availability, quality and reliability of Jamaica’s

telecommunication, real estate, power supply, and transportation infrastructure.

The LRI analysis suggests that the quality of infrastructure in Jamaica is not at its highest and

measures for improvement should be taken. The table and graph below show that overall

Jamaica with a score of 3.03 performs better than Kenya (4.17), but worse than Armenia (2.53).

Its national infrastructure has a long way to go to reach the readiness level of USA, which is a

model country for infrastructure development.

Jamaica Kenya Armenia III. Quality of Infrastructure Index 3.03 4.17 2.53

Quality of telecom and network service

Uptime of end-to-end network 1.0 4.0 1.0 Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) 1.0 3.0 2.0 EIU connectivity rating 4.0 4.0 4.0

Real estate Total inventory of class A spaces 5.0 5.0 5.0 Vacancy rate of the class A/B spaces 2.0 5.0 1.0

Power Annual average power outage days 5.0 5.0 1.0 Annual power demand as % of power supply 1.0 1.0 1.0

Transportation Total road length/per capita 4.0 5.0 5.0 Total rail length/per capita 5.0 5.0 5.0

Even though Jamaica still suffers from poor overall connectivity, shortage of good office space,

large number of power outages, and inadequate transportation infrastructure, Jamaica’s

network availability during the year (est. 99.99%), mean time to restore (MTTR) the network

after an incident (est. 2 hours), electricity peak time shortage (est. 0%), and the vacancy rate of

class A/B spaces (est. 15%) is very favorable.

Spatial Innovision Limited reports that the total time in the calendar year that the network is

available through the internet or the uptime of end-to-end network is estimated at 99.99% and

on average it takes only 2 hours to restore the network after an incident. These translate into a

very favorable LRI score of 1 in regards to the quality of telecom and network services

readiness.

However, Jamaica (3.41 out of 10) ranked 85th out of 152 countries on the ICT Development

Index (IDI) in the 2011 Measuring the Information Society Report published by the International

3.0

4.2

2.5

0

1

2

3

4

5

Jamaica Kenya Armenia


Telecommunication Union. This gives Jamaica a score of 4 in terms of Connectivity readiness in

the LRI diagnostic. On the IDI Kenya and Armenia with a similar LRI score ranked the 115th and

the 72nd, respectively.

Even if Norma Breakenridge former President of the Land Economics and Valuation Society,

estimates the total inventory of class A spaces at 3 million sqft (LRI score 5), its vacancy rate of

15% translates into a favorable LRI score of 2.

With a 0% shortage during peak times, the electricity supply meets the demand, but Nation

Master reports that the electricity grid needs to be upgraded to decrease the current number

of 20 days of power outages per year.

The transportation infrastructure requires attention, as well. The current road length of 22,121

Km (Central Intelligence Agency, The World Fact book) and the total railway of 370 km (Jamaica

Railway Corporation) are not ready and require significant action from the government.

In terms of infrastructure development, Jamaica scoring 3.7 out of 7 was ranked 79th (out of

142 countries) in the latest Global Competitiveness Report (2011-2012) published by the World

Economic Forum, which in addition to communications and power supply infrastructure takes

into account the readiness of transport such as quality of roads, railways, ports, and air

transportation.


3.2

3.8

3.2

0

1

2

3

4

5


IV. Risk Profile Index

The country risk component of the LRI model measures three areas: (i) regulatory risk -

transparency, stability, and predictability of a country’s regulatory environment; (ii) investment

risk - country’s macroeconomic and currency stability and capital freedom; and (iii) data risk -

the adequacy of a country’s intellectual property and data protection.

With an overall LRI risk score of 3.22, Jamaica’s overall risk is similar to Armenia’s, but better

than Kenya’s (3.78).

IV. Risk Profile Index 3.22 3.78 3.22 Regulatory risks

Stability of law/regulation 1.0 2.0 1.0 Transparency & fairness of legal system 3.0 4.0 3.0 Bureaucracy 2.0 5.0 4.0

Country investment risks Macroeconomic stability 5.0 5.0 5.0 Currency fluctuation 5.0 4.0 3.0 Capital freedom 1.0 2.0 1.0

Data protection Protection of intellectual property 4.0 4.0 4.0

According to the latest report by the Heritage Foundation, the overall process for starting a

business has been streamlined, but licensing requirements are burdensome and cost over twice

the level of annual average income in Jamaica. The Jamaica’s economy does very well in terms

of Regulatory Efficiency though - the Business Freedom being favorably scored at 84.7 points

out of 100 in the 2012 Economic Freedom Index (Heritage Foundation).

On the Transparency and Fairness of Legal System, Jamaica (3) doesn’t do so well. It scored only

4 points out 10 on the 2011 Business Extent of Disclosure Index (World Bank Development

Indicators), which measures the extent to which investors are protected through disclosure of

ownership and financial information, and 40 points out of 100 on the Property Rights Index

(Heritage Foundation, Economic Freedom Index 2012). The Heritage Foundation reports that

this low score is partially due to the fact that the judiciary lacks adequate resources, and trials

can be delayed for years. Additionally, bureaucracy can cause significant delays in securing land

titles and inadequate law enforcement and an inefficient legal framework weaken the security

of property rights and the rule of law.


With regards to the regulatory risks, Jamaica (2) unlike Kenya (5) and Armenia (4) does well in

terms of Bureaucracy. The Economist Intelligence Unit evaluated the quality of bureaucracy in

Jamaica at 0.64 points out of 1 (World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators, Government

Effectiveness). This score indicates that the bureaucratic climate in Jamaica is much better than

in Kenya (0.0) and Armenia (0.25).

On the Macroeconomic Stability, however, Jamaica does very poorly. The World Economic

Forum assessed Jamaica’s Macroeconomic Environment at 2.6 points out of 7, which places

Jamaica on the last position out of 142 countries ranked in the 2011-2012 Global

Competitiveness Report on their Macroeconomic environment.

The Heritage Foundation classified Jamaica as a “moderately free economy”. Jamaica’s 2012

score on the overall economic freedom is at 65.1 points out of 100, which makes its economy

the 58th freest among 179 world economies and the 12th out of 29 countries in the South and

Central America/Caribbean region. Kenya (57.5) and Armenia (68.8) ranks the 103rd and 39th,

respectively. Thus, Jamaica (1) scores extremely favorable on the LRI curve with regards to

capital freedom.

The Heritage Foundation denotes that critical development challenges confronting the

Jamaican economy include corruption and relatively high government spending. Public debt has

surpassed 115 percent of GDP. Reducing the bloated public sector, following through on plans

to divest loss-making state-owned enterprises, and enforcing expenditure restraint are all

essential in order to meet fiscal targets. Undermining anti-corruption efforts, the judicial

system remains inefficient and clogged with a significant backlog of cases. Nevertheless,

Jamaica has taken steps to enhance regulatory efficiency and better integrate its economy into

the global marketplace. The economy performs relatively well in investment freedom and

business freedom. Procedures for conducting a business have become streamlined, and foreign

investment is welcome in many sectors, although the investment regime needs more

transparency to spur dynamic investment growth.

Within the 2010–2011 Global Information Technology Report, the World Economic Forum

ranked Jamaica’s Intellectual Property Protection on the 78th position out of 138 countries. The

3.2 points out of 7 are translated into an LRI score of 4. In the same report Kenya (2.9) and

Armenia (2.7) scored worse along this dimension. The LRI assessment indicates that significant

action is needed to increase data protection in all of the three countries.

It is worthwhile to note that the country risk, as like infrastructure quality and business

environment is not an absolute barrier to success, given the example of Philippines’ rapid

growth in this sector despite its high risk ranking.


V. Environment Index

The environment index of the LRI assessment measures the business and living environment in

a country and includes four parts: (i) general government support of business, including

bureaucratic burden and corruption; (ii) the overall business environment; (iii) quality of life,

including desirability of location, disease burden, and crime; and (iv) accessibility to the main

markets where services are expected to be delivered, including flight time and frequency.

Jamaica’s LRI scores compared to Kenya’s and Armenia’s along these dimensions are presented

in the table below.

Jamaica Kenya Armenia V. Environment Index 3.20 3.76 2.87

Government support

Government policy towards foreign investment

National government policy towards FI

1.0

3.0 2.0

Labor laws

Flexibility of labor laws for industry

4.0

4.0 3.0

Bureaucratic burden

Ease of bureaucratic burden

4.0

4.0 4.0

Flexibility of regulation

Duration (days) to start a business

1.0

2.0 1.0

Corruption

Level of corruption

4.0 5.0 5.0

Business environment Rating of overall business environment 5.0 5.0 3.0 Employment practices 2.0 2.0 2.0 Compatibility of business ethics/culture 2.0 4.0 2.0

Accessibility (name changed) Travel time 3.0 5.0 4.0 Frequency 5.0 5.0 5.0 Time difference 1.0 4.0 3.0

Living environment Overall attractiveness of living environment

Rating of quality of life 2.0 3.0 3.0 HIV/ AIDS- adult prevalence rates 4.0 5.0 4.0 Number of murders per capita 5.0 5.0 3.0 Number of rapes per capita 5.0 1.0 1.0


As can be seen, Jamaica does not do very well in terms of business and living environment

(3.45). Its overall score is better than Kenya’s (3.76), but worse than Armenia’s (2.87). Metrics

such as bureaucracy, corruption, accessibility, quality of life and HIV/AIDS risks, determining

among others the overall attractiveness of living environment, are hindering Jamaica’s

prospects to become a thriving outsourcing market.

The World Bank’s 2012 Doing Business report ranks Jamaica the 88th (out of 183 countries) on

its easiness to run a business. For comparison, Kenya and Armenia ranks the 109th and 55th,

respectively. Recent changes in the procedures and regulation to start a business and protect

3.2 3.9

3.0

0

1

2

3

4

5


Environment Index


the investors, as well as deal insolvency mitigation have moved down the country by three

positions from its previous year ranking (85th).

The World Bank reports that it takes at least 7 days to start a business in Jamaica (Doing

Business 2012 report). This time period is way below the average for countries in Latin America

and Caribbean (54 days) and OECD countries (12 days). For additional comparison, in Kenya and

Armenia it takes 33 and 8 days, respectively, to start a business.

The Heritage Foundation remarks that Jamaica officially encourages foreign investment, but the

investment regime lacks transparency and efficiency, which gives Jamaica a score of 85 points

(out of 100) in terms of investment freedom (Economic Freedom Index 2012, Open Markets).

Although the labor market remains underdeveloped and relatively constraining, restrictions on

work hours are flexible, which scores Jamaica’s labor freedom at 69.6 points (out of 100)(The

Heritage Foundation).

The World Economic Forum ranked Jamaica’s Burden of Government Regulation on the 111th

position out of 138 countries (The Global Information Technology Report 2010–2011). With a

score of 2.7 out of 7, Jamaica does a little worse than Kenya (2.8) and Armenia (3.1).

Transparency International’s 2010 Annual Report rated the Jamaica’s Corruption Perceptions

Index at 3.3 (on a scale of 0 to 10 – very clean). This ranks Jamaica the 87th among 178 world

countries and below Kenya (154th) and Armenia (123rd) in terms of corruption spread.

With no direct non-stop flights and an average flight time of 7 hours from Los Angeles to

Kingston, Jamaica becomes geographically remote for the West Coast of the USA. However,

Jamaica is easily accessible from the East Cost. There are a few non-stop flights from New York

(JFK) which on average take 4 hours to Kingston (KIN).

In terms of compatibility of business ethics/culture, which is based on the Geert Hofstede

Study, Jamaican culture is not much different than that of US scoring favorable on the LRI curve

(2). The largest differences are along the Individualism versus Collectivism dimension (IDV),

which measures the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members, and

along the Uncertainty Avoidance dimension (UAI), which expresses the degree to which

members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. Jamaica with an IDV

score of 39 points is considered a collectivistic society, versus US-91 points considered one of

the most individualistic societies. On the UAI dimension, Jamaica scores 13 points versus US-46

points, and thus Jamaica is considered to have a low preference for avoiding uncertainty. The

method applied to determine the Jamaican culture distance index was the Kogut & Singh

formulation, which generates a normalized statistic by dividing each of the four physic distance

dimensions (i.e. PDI, IDV, MAS, and UAI) by the variances to produce a standardized number.


Health and safety also remain as concern for foreign investors. UNICEF estimated the adult HIV

prevalence rate for Jamaica at an alarming rate of 1.7%. This rate is lower than in Kenya (6.3%),

but much higher than in Armenia (0.1%). The United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and the

Operations of Criminal Justice Systems registered the homicide rate for Jamaica at 52.1 per

100,000 people. Additionally, based on the number of police-recorded offences, the United

Nations Office on Drugs and Crime calculated the rape rate at the national level at 25.5 per

100,000 people.

International Living, which ranks and rates the world’s best places to live, gave Jamaica in 2011

a score of 63 points out of 100. Compared to Kenya (53) and Armenia (55) the quality of life in

Jamaica is rated higher.


2.2

4.2

2.8

0

1

2

3

4

5


VI. Maturity of Industry Index

The maturity of industry index describes how well developed the country’s IT-based services

industry already is, how many IT-based businesses are being done, and whether there is an

active business association to coordinate private and public sector activity and promote the

industry to investors. The LRI assessment indicates that Jamaica has already matured a good

IT/ITES industry. The LRI Maturity of Industry scores for Jamaica in comparison with Kenya and

Armenia are presented in the table below.

VI. Maturity of Industry Index 2.20 4.20 2.80 Vendor Capability / Experience in providing offshoring services

Employees in IT/ITES as % of total employees in non agri. 3.0 5.0 4.0 Presence of Industry association (Yes/ No) 1.0 1.0 1.0 IT/ITES GDP as % of total services GDP 1.0 5.0 1.0

Based on the estimates form the Labor Market Expert, Spatial Innovision Limited reports that

2.5% employees are working in the IT/ITES industry as part of the total employees in non-

agriculture labor. This percentage is higher compared to both Kenya (0.59%) and Armenia

(1.6%).

From the 2011 Statistics on Computer and Related Services and Telecommunications

(UNCTAD), Spatial Innovision Limited estimated that IT/ITES GDP represents a very high 6.3% of

Jamaica’s total services GDP. In Armenia this percentage constitutes 5.4 and in Kenya it is

estimated only at 0.15.

Readiness of Jamaica as a Location for IT Investments - FullReport

Business

location readiness

world economic

talent pool

risk profile

knowledge

voice knowledge

favorable

based services