Jamaicans To Be Recruited for Cruise Ship Jobs

• The Ministry of Tourism is looking to tap into the local labour force to identify, recruit and deploy at least 10,000 of the 90,000 workers required in the global cruise industry. Portfolio Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the demand stems from a shortage of workers occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of tourism activities worldwide, which resulted in a reduction in the number of persons employed in the sector. 
• The demand for employees within the tourism industry is consistent with those in various domestic and global sectors and forms part of the response in the overall post-COVID-19 recovery efforts. 
• The labour demand in the tourism, as well as growing Business Processing and Outsourcing (BPO) sectors should fuel employment in 2022. Overall the unemployment rate which has been trending downwards since July 2020, could fall lower than the 6.2% recorded in January 2022-- the lowest in over 10 years. 
• However, there are downside risks as increased costs to businesses due to the high inflationary environment may result in some businesses reducing their wage bill to stay profitable.

(Source: JIS and NCBCM Research)