Social Protection Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Jamaica

Abstract

“The current social protection policies and programmes in Jamaica can trace their origins to the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century. With the independence of the country from the United Kingdom in 1962, the new Jamaican government moved away from past colonial social policies, increasing social spending and establishing a new social protection system through the implementation of the Old Age and Superannuation Scheme Law in 1958 and the National Insurance Act of 1965, which created the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), a pay-as-you-go social security system, which is compulsory for the entire active population.”(…)