THE NUMBER of Jamaicans employed in the Overseas Employment Programme in North America increased by 15 per cent last year compared to the previous year, according to the statistical bulletin of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
The bulletin, tabled in the House of Representatives last week, revealed that last year 12,010 Jamaicans were employed in the programme, reflecting an increase of 1,578 workers compared to the previous year.
The Hotel Workers Programme saw the largest increase in the number of Jamaicans employed in North American. The number of workers getting jobs in hotels almost doubled from 1,354 in 1998 to 2,462 last year. Employment from the hotels, represented 20.5 per cent of the jobs from the overseas programme.
The overseas programme also had 5,073 workers or 42 per cent of the total being employed in Canadian farms and factories. This represented an increase of 380 workers over the period. The second largest number of workers were employed under the United States Farm Work Programme, which had 4,475 persons or 37.3 per cent of the total. The figure reflected an increase of 90 persons over 1998.
Continuing the pattern of past years, more men were employed in the overseas programme than women. There were 10,249 men or 85.3 per cent of the total. However, women dominated the hotel workers programme accounting for 1,735 or 70.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the number of workers who went absent without leave (AWOL) from Canadian farms and factories increased from 128 in 1998 to 164 last year. This stood in contrast to the United States where the number of workers who went AWOL decreased from 54 in 1998 to 52 last year.
Those who were employed in the overseas programme continued to contribute substantially to the local economy. Last year, more than US$8 million in remittances rolled in from the United States, showing a 32.5 per cent jump over the preceding year. Farm workers in the US contributed just 50.4 per cent of the total remittances while hotel workers sent the rest. Roughly 62.6 per cent of the money remitted was sent by male workers.
However, remittances from Canada last year showed a 16 per cent decrease compared to 1998. Just about CAN$7.3 million was sent back home in 1998 compared to roughly CAN$6.1 million in 1999. Less than one per cent of the remittances was sent by female workers.
