Connecting workers to jobs: the rising public employment services in the Caribbean

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (ILO News) - Across the Caribbean, small and open economies are shaped by regional integration and globalisation, where both capital and labour move with relative ease. This openness creates significant opportunities- but also exposes persistent gaps in how workers connect to jobs. Many young people continue to struggle to find employment, while too many jobs remain informal. Another key challenge is that too few workers are connected to the opportunities emerging in higher-productivity sectors.

For decades, governments have relied on public employment services (PES) to help jobseekers navigate the labour market turbulence, supporting job search and placements, career transitions, and leading training programmes or employment schemes that aim to match education and technical skills with industry requirements. These initiatives, and implementing institutions, were expected to facilitate a broader shift towards more productive, formal, and knowledge-based economies.

While every Caribbean country has some form of public employment service, only a handful operate fully integrated, modern systems. Like most of the countries in the world, the public employment services in the Caribbean have struggled to keep pace with a changing world of work. Labour markets are evolving quickly, with shifting skills demands and new job opportunities emerging in sectors that traditional systems are not always equipped to serve. Further, many PES often operate at high cost, with delivery models that are not always efficient. Fragmentation compounds the problem with multiple institutions providing overlapping services with limited coordination. Perhaps most critically, many PES have yet to integrate robust performance management systems that enable them to regularly review their mandate, governance, and impact.

Learning from global experience

Global experience offers useful lessons for institutions in Caribbean countries- provided they are adapted to local contexts.

• First, PES need continuous reform, anchored in a clear mandate and results-oriented approach. Regular assessment of performance, governance and impact is essential to ensure their relevance and effectiveness.
• Second, technology can play a transformative role. A well-designed digitalisation strategy and tools can improve job matching, extend outreach, and deliver services more efficiently - so long as they are deployed in ways that do not deepen the digital divide.
• Third, PES do not operate in isolation. Their effectiveness depends on strong partnerships across the national labour market. Collaboration with training institutions helps to upgrade skills and ensure that skills development reflects real demand. Engagement with financial actors can support job-creating enterprises. Linkages with social security and social protection systems can better connect beneficiaries to work and training opportunities.

In most effective public employment services, social partners (employers’ and workers’ organisation) are critical players embedded in governance, often sitting on PES supervisory boards and contributing towards strategic direction. For Caribbean PES, relations with private employment agencies also deserve careful calibration: cooperation where possible, complementarity where useful, and healthy competition where it improves performance Importantly, PES must be responsive to the needs of diverse groups. When targeting populations such as indigenous communities, rural women, or people with disabilities, coordination with government bodies and civil society organizations is essential to avoid duplication and maximize impact.

Adapting to a changing future

In the current context of volatile labour markets in the Caribbean, standing still is not an option. Public employment services must continuously adapt- refining their tools, reshaping service delivery, and responding to evolving demand. But adaptation alone is not enough.

To remain relevant, PES must also assert their place at the centre of labour market policy. This means not only implementing programmes, but also shaping policy direction and building the confidence of governments and stakeholders.

As the Caribbean navigates economic transformation and shifting labour dynamics, stronger, more responsive public employment services will be essential to connecting workers to opportunity- and to ensuring that no one is left behind.