Key points: Local spending fell 22 per cent from about US$1 billion to US$780 million as another 5,000 jobs disappeared. Government data put employment at 50,000, while the GSAJ estimates about 40,000. A working group is pursuing new investment, better skills and a shift towards higher-value KPO services.
JAMAICA’S global digital services (GDS) sector spent an estimated US$780 million in the local economy in the fiscal year ended March 2026, down US$220 million from about US$1 billion a year earlier as the industry lost another 5,000 jobs. The estimate — which measures spending in Jamaica rather than export earnings — was higher than the US$612 million earned from bauxite and alumina exports in 2025 and was equivalent to about 47 per cent of the country’s US$1.65 billion in total merchandise exports. The spending covered wages, office-space leases, utilities and other operating expenses.
Employment in the sector fell to approximately 50,000 in March 2026 from 62,000 two years earlier, while the number of companies declined from more than 90 to about 70. The sector had already missed Government’s March 2025 target of 70,400 jobs by 15,400. By March 2026, the gap had widened to 20,400 jobs.
“This decrease in employment is attributed to a variety of factors which include: Onshoring/reshoring, geopolitical considerations, technological advancements, the impact of Hurricane Melissa and the local challenges of cost of doing business,” the Government of Jamaica stated in its annual report on Form 18-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Jamaica's global services sector has shed more than 12,000 jobs in the last two years. The report said Hurricane Melissa compounded those pressures.
“Hurricane Melissa, in particular, had a disruptive impact on Jamaica’s GDS sector, primarily through damage to critical infrastructure and interruptions to essential utilities. Widespread outages in electricity and telecommunications networks constrained business continuity across BPO (business process outsourcing) and other digitally enabled services, limiting firms’ ability to meet international client demands and maintain service-level agreements. In addition, damage to transportation networks and displacement of workers further affected operational capacity and productivity,” the annual report added.
Summary from source