Chinese nationals receive majority of work permits granted by Ministry of Labour in 2022
As is customary, Chinese nationals received the majority of the work permits granted in 2022 by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS).
According to the ministry, 37.8 per cent of work permits approved last year were for Chinese nationals. They were followed by nationals of India at 17.7 per cent. Mexico accounted for 6.0 per cent of the total approved work permits during the year.
This means that for two years running, the majority of approved work permits were for persons from the continent of Asia.
The information is contained in the 2022 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica, a publication of the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
According to the survey, a total of 4,583 applications for work permits were received by the ministry, an increase of 2.9 per cent. Of the applications received, 2,640 were renewals and 1,943 were for new work permits.
The ministry approved 85.5 per cent of applications (renewals and new). New work permit applications had a lower approval rate than renewals. The percentage of new work permit applications and renewals approved were 81.3per cent and 88.6 per cent, respectively.
The data indicated that work permit approvals were concentrated mainly in the following industries: wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicle and equipment (1,692); accommodation and food service sctivities (599); construction (516); and agriculture, forestry and fishing (281).
By occupation, the largest proportions of approvals were observed in the managers (1,402); technicians and associate professionals (994); professionals (805); and service and sales workers (329) categories.
A total of 27 applications were refused: 23 new permits and 4 renewals.
