The variety of Jamaicans who travelled to Canada as a part of the abroad employment program in 2023 declined by 5 per cent, as unfavorable publicity surrounding the farm work program continued.
The variety of Jamaicans employed within the Canadian Farm and Manufacturing unit program decreased from from 9,435 to eight,961 individuals.
The figures had been contained within the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s Financial and Social Survey Jamaica 2023 report, which stated that a number of components contributed to the decline, together with inclement climate that broken crops and led to the cancellation of “employee orders” by employers.
Additional, the report stated unfavorable publicity surrounding this system’s working situations could have deterred potential individuals, additional affecting the general participation numbers.
Yesterday, Canada-based Injured Workers Action for Justice (IWAJ), in response to the report, said: “The migrant farmworkers taking part within the farm work packages have shared their very own experiences and views. These embody poor residing and dealing situations, abuse and harassment from employers, accidents and deaths, lack of correct healthcare, and retaliation in opposition to employees who communicate up about issues. These injured migrant farmworkers have been talking out about their actual, lived experiences, not simply ‘unfavorable publicity’.”
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In 2022 farm employees on the Seasonal Agricultural Staff Program in Canada reported that they had been being made to work underneath poor situations.
The native impartial fact-finding team, appointed to analyze the working situations, has discovered that a lot of the Jamaican staff are glad with their working and residing situations.
Conversely, the variety of individuals within the US Farm Work Program grew by 4.6 per cent to 4,306 Jamaicans attributable to a 4.8 per cent improve in male individuals on this program.
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The report stated the rise within the variety of individuals within the US Farm Program could possibly be a results of the ministry’s initiative to accomplice with extra recruitment brokers in late 2022.
The abroad employment program is the first labor-migration initiative of the Jamaican Authorities. It locations certified Jamaicans in employment in the USA and Canada.
