Prime Minister Andrew Holness outlined that the 5th staging of Outsource2Jamaica’s Conference and Exposition is a signal of the government’s intention to not merely keep pace with global trends but to lead, innovate, and transform.

The conference, which is themed ‘Driving Excellence,’ was held in Montego Bay on Thursday, April 10 to showcase the resilience, growth and determination of the outsourcing sector.

Holness said this year’s theme is both timely and visionary while urging Jamaican stakeholders to lead in this new disruptive environment as the global economy is reshaped by artificial intelligence, automation, digital transformation, demographic shifts, and tariffs.

“Today, over 52,000 Jamaicans are employed in the global services sector, with operations stretching across the island. Our people provide voice and nonvoice services across key industries. Financial services, health care, telecommunications, logistics, retail, and many more,” he said.

He also noted that Jamaica has grown significantly from the initial BPO foundations and is now carving out a space in knowledge process outsourcing, such as IT-enabled services and specialised digital service delivery.

“Jamaica’s position as a nearshore destination is a strategic asset for us and for investors. But proximity alone is not our competitive edge. We have lauded this geographic gift from God for a very long time. But we recognise that it is the people, the other God-given gift, the other natural asset that will give us the competitive edge.

“Our workforce is English speaking tech savvy trainable and that is why the government of Jamaica has made a priority of workforce development and digital skills training to ensure that the future of work is not just something that we adapt to. But more so, the future of work is something that we can influence in shaping by ensuring that our human resources are innovative and creative and adding value to the knowledge pool,” he added.

Holness said that in this regard, the work of the national training agency, the Heart NSTA Trust, the Global Services Skills Council, and the digital literacy and skills programmes have been instrumental in creating a steady pipeline of talent, not only for traditional outsourcing, but for fintech, cyber security, software engineering, and data analytics.

“We are investing heavily in skills development. In 2023, we removed all tuition and administrative fees from our national training agencies. So, training is now free in Jamaica, and this is up to the associate degree level. In fact, we have gone even further, and we are now literally paying people to learn and get a skill. We now have programmes in place where, in addition to receiving training free of cost, participants earn a stipend, which includes a training component. Jamaica is in the best position that we have ever been as a nation as it relates to employment,” Holness added.

He further stated that for all practical purposes, at 3.5 per cent unemployment, Jamaica is technically at full employment. “But every business owner, every investor will tell you that the economy is in a good place to generate employment. But for us to grow, and especially in a service-driven environment, we have to upskill. We have to improve the skills of the people currently employed. And then for those who are still unemployed or outside the labour force or frictionally or seasonally unemployed, we have to bring them into the labour force, but at a higher level of productivity.”

Holness also underscored that the government has acknowledged the new dispensation in which the Jamaican economy is operating while outlining that the country has moved from having double-digit unemployment a decade ago to now very low single-digit unemployment.

“The strategy of the government is now to pivot into ensuring that labour does not become a constraint for growth, and that takes a different set of policies. So we are very much forward-leaning in providing support to businesses for the upskilling of their existing labour force in providing really attractive incentives for persons who are not in the labour force to become a part of the labour force by acquiring skills.

“And there is a great push by some businesses to allow a structured programme in which local businesses can have access to a global labour pool. This is something that is obviously very controversial. But as our economy grows and as it gets stronger and as the skills required to support the businesses become more complex and high-tech, it may very well have to be a consideration. But at this point, the strategy and policy of the Jamaican government is to empower our local labour force. At this point, it is to improve the productivity of the local Jamaican worker,” he added.

Holness also said that upskilling the current labour force will support businesses to develop high-paying jobs that are focused on higher-level services and therefore remove any underemployment that may exist in our economy.

“Eventually, like all developed countries, when your economy is strong and you require labour and skills that may not be available locally, then you participate in the global labour pool. But as of now, we still have a lot of work to do with our local labour. We have a lot of investments to make in our local people, and that is where the effort and focus of the government is,” he said.