An Overview Of Jamaica's Business Process Outsourcing Industry Development And Its Impact On Employment

Jamaica has been successful in attracting some of the top third-party providers of Business Process Outsourcing.Despite the country's fast growth in the industry,it is still in the earlier stages of development in comparison with some of its regional competitors.Costa Rica,in particular ranks higher on the Global Value Chain(GVC)than Jamaica due to its participation in “higher value added services” through providing Information Technology Outsourcing services and functions as a source of comparison to Jamaica throughout this paper.In contrast to Costa Rica,Jamaica struggles in technological education and as a result of this,is limited to providing what is seen as lower end Business Process Outsourcing services.This report seeks to determine how Jamaica is currently performing in the offshore services industry by observing the impact the country's low position in the BPO industry has on employment.Contemporarily,the report takes into consideration the approaches taken by Costa Rica to gauge the direction Jamaica can take for further improvement.The author utilized primary data in the form of a survey of 150 participants to carry out qualitative study for understanding the perception of individuals working in the BPO industry.It was discovered that despite the negative perception the general public has of the industry,young employees are sufficiently salaried,particularly as they climb the ranks in the workforce.Notwithstanding the high productivity required in the field of work,they also seem to find a sense of security from the job creating presence of the industry and welcome more companies in the BPO sector to the country.This paper first offers an overview of the offshore services Global Value Chain to facilitate a basic comprehension of the depth and structure of the industry.It then analyzes the domestic industry within Jamaica and its impact on employment,while taking accountability of industry strengths and weaknesses.In the penultimate,it moves to detail the study performed with workers of three BPO companies in Jamaica.The paper then concludes with the proposition of solutions in the short,medium and long item to improve the country's position on the Global Value Chain,which will resultantly have a ripple effect on employment figures,standards,and salary.