Overseas Employment Programme draws 15,169 Jamaicans in 2025, PIOJ reports

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s Overseas Employment Programme enrolled 15,169 people in 2025, a 4.8 per cent rise on the previous year, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has reported.

Figures from the 2025 Economic and Social Survey Jamaica show that while the US Farm Work Programme and the Canadian Low Skilled Worker Programme saw fewer participants, every other stream under the scheme expanded.

The Overseas Employment Programme is the Government of Jamaica’s main labour-migration vehicle. It matches eligible Jamaicans with jobs in the United States of America (USA) and Canada across five streams: the US Farm Work Programme, the US Hospitality Programme, the Canadian Farm & Factory Work Programme, the Canadian Skilled Worker/Hospitality Programme, and the Canadian Low Skilled Worker Programme.

Taken together, the two US streams rose 1.7 per cent to 5,810 people. That gain rested on the US Hospitality Programme, which climbed 16.2 per cent to 1,236 participants — an outcome the planning institute linked to stronger marketing and wider engagement with employers.

By contrast, the US Farm Work Programme fell 1.6 per cent to 4,574 people, reflecting a 1.7 per cent drop in male enrolment. “The reduction in participants can be attributed to economic challenges faced by some agricultural employers, which resulted in the downsizing of their workforce,” PIOJ explained.

Canadian streams grew 6.9 per cent to 9,359 people and again supplied most of the programme’s intake, at 61.7 per cent. Enrolment in the Canadian Farm & Factory Work Programme advanced 7.4 per cent to 8,877, helped by a stronger cherry harvest season in British Columbia, Canada, and the addition of new employers that lifted demand for seasonal farm labour.

The Canadian Low Skilled Worker Programme moved in the opposite direction, declining 2.4 per cent to 482 people after male participation fell 4.6 per cent. PIOJ pointed to rivalry from non-traditional labour-supply countries as a factor. The Canadian Skilled Worker/Hospitality Programme recorded no participants.

Women in the Overseas Employment Programme rose 18.2 per cent to 1,150, yet men still made up 92.4 per cent of all participants. As in the prior year, men dominated the US Farm Work Programme (98.5 per cent), the Canadian Farm and Factory Programme (95.6 per cent), and the Canadian Low Skilled Worker Programme (89.6 per cent). Women formed 51.8 per cent of those in the US Hospitality Programme.