Jamaica loses 20,000 Global Services jobs over the last two years

President of The Global Services Association of Jamaica,  Yoni Epstein says Jamaica has lost 20,000 jobs and about US$180 million in foreign exchange earnings from the global services sector over the last two years.

Epstein says the losses are not primarily due to artificial intelligence, but to Jamaica losing competitiveness.

Speaking Sunday on Radio Jamaica’s Real Business, he said the jobs have moved to other countries, including India, The Philippines and South Africa, which he says are more competitive in the high-volume, low-margin segment of the business.

He says Jamaica must now focus on areas such as customer service, healthcare and technical services to recover the lost foreign exchange.

Mr. Epstein is also urging the Government and private sector to aggressively market Jamaica as a global services destination, noting that this has not been done sufficiently since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local companies should also be targeted as potential clients, while artificial intelligence is used to reduce operating costs, he added..

Epstein is also calling for urgent action to tackle scamming and cyber fraud, warning that these issues could undermine Jamaica's competitiveness in the sector.