果冻传媒

IER's Dr Jamelia Harris presented early findings from the project "Colonial legacies and the labour market in the English-speaking Caribbean" at the Development Studies Association (DSA) Conference 2026. The conference was held in Dublin and brought together development scholars from across the globe.

Dr. Harris' presentation highlighted the economic and labour market transitions in Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago from 1800 to today, and how these transitions have been influenced by colonial legacies versus post-independence policies, situating the analysis in debates around dependency versus developmental states theories.

Dr Sangwoo Lee, Assistant Professor, Institute for Employment Research, said: 'The minor reduction in unemployment seen in today's data, is accompanied by a 0.3 % increase in economic inactivity - partly driven by discouraged jobseekers retreating from the market rather than being absorbed into stable jobs. We're also seeing a gradual shift towards non-traditional working arrangements. Strengthening protection these workers should be a priority.

IER's Dr Jamelia Harris and her collaborator, Dr Dexnell Peters of the University of the West Indies, participated in the 6th Biennial Richard Robinson Business History Workshop at the Portland State University.

Dr Harris and Dr Peters presented a paper which traces the organisation of business ownership to the colonial period. The paper argues that legacies embedded in legislation, institutions and culture since 1800 still shape who becomes a business owner, and to some extent, the sectors in which they operate.

IER's Dr Jamelia Harris presented early findings from the project "Colonial legacies and the labour market in the English-speaking Caribbean" at the West Indies Economic Conference (WECON) 2026. The conference was held in Kingston, Jamaica and brought together economists working on issues in the Caribbean region.

A new research paper by IER's Dr. Jamelia Harris has been published in Work Employment and Society. The analyses how employers and university-educated jobseekers behave when networks are overly used, and connections supersede merit in recruitment. It advances the debate by exploring the effects of networks on how the labour market for the university-educated functions, and how the normalisation of network-based recruitment affects this segment of the labour market.