OPPOSITION spokesman on Industry and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell, yesterday challenged the government to take some risks in an effort to create jobs and grow the economy.

"It is your Government that must lead the way. You have to take some risks, you have to get up off your seat and do something. Do something," Paulwell urged the Bruce Golding administration as he concluded his contribution to the 2010/11 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.

Paulwell, a former minister in the People's National Party Government that was voted out of office in August 2007, had earlier presented his framework for job creation in a wide-ranging presentation that focused on the micro and small enterprise sector, the information communications technology sector, energy among others.Noting that 50,000 jobs had been lost since the Jamaica Labour Party came to office in September 2007, Paulwell said the situation would likely deteriorate further "unless the Government begins to take more seriously the issue of providing the structure and sub-structure for job opportunities in Jamaica".

He said unemployment was at a five-year high of 11.3 per cent, up from the 9.8 per cent when the PNP left office.

He urged the Government to focus on the small business sector and the ICT sector, both of which he said had the potential to create significant employment.

"All of the programmes to invest in human capital, build capacity for job creation, expand opportunities in science and technology as well as research and development have been severely affected. Several key programmes have received no allocation or drastic cuts," Paulwell said.

He was speaking against the background of significant cuts in the Estimates of Expenditure for the 2010/11 financial year.

The former minister spent most of his presentation on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Sectors (MSMEs), which he said are "key elements of growing Jamaica and providing growth with jobs".

He pointed to data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica which indicate that MSMEs account for 67 per cent or two-thirds of the existing employment opportunities in Jamaica.

"There can then be no question that there is need for aggressive programmes which ensure that these enterprises receive the necessary support so that they are first sustainable and then, for those with potential, that their capacity for further growth and the creation of more job opportunities is realised," the Opposition spokesman said.

He charged that despite the clear and obvious importance of these sectors, there is no coherent Government policy to support MSMEs.

Pauwell, meanwhile, claimed that the Government had stymied growth in information and communications sector area through its decision to reimpose the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on computers.

"The experience is that GCT is retarding the acquisition of computers and so the Government is not getting the revenues in any event, therefore, we are in reverse. I again call for the removal of GCT on computers so Jamaica can resume its forward march."