Survey: Puerto Rico is seeing a talent shortage, as it did in 2024

By THE STAR STAFF

ManpowerGroup’s 2026 Global Talent Shortage Survey revealed that the difficulty in filling vacancies in Puerto Rico is 75%, which represents an increase of 22% compared to last year’s results and 3% above the global average.

After having been the jurisdiction with the least talent shortage last year at 53%, this year the survey places Puerto Rico in 15th place among the 41 participating countries, very similar to what happened in 2024 when the talent shortage index was 78%, noted the company’s general manager in Puerto Rico, Melissa Rivera Roena.

She said Slovakia (87%), Greece and Japan (with 84% each) are the countries with the greatest problems finding talent. In contrast, those with the least difficulty are Finland (60%), Poland (57%) and China (48%).

“The data shows that we haven’t reached the peak level we faced in 2023 when the shortage reached 83%, but we must see the results as an important indicator,” Rivera Roena said. “We need to delve deeper into the causes and strengthen measures so that filling vacancies isn’t a difficulty, but rather that our workplaces are attractive to talent.”

The survey was conducted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025 with a sample of 39,000 employers in 41 countries. The specific questions were: How difficult is it for you to fill positions compared to last year? What are the hardest positions to fill? What are the most valued skills? And what are you doing to address the talent shortage?

Hardest jobs to fill in Puerto Rico

Rivera Roena said the most difficult positions to fill in Puerto Rico are customer satisfaction, administrative support, manufacturing and production, human resources, and logistics.

Economic sectors where there is the greatest shortage

The economic sectors where there are the greatest difficulties in finding talent are: manufacturing (83%), professional, scientific and technical services (81%), information (80%), trade and logistics (80%) and finance and insurance (79%), hospitality (71%), construction and real estate (59%), energy (68%) and public sector, health and social services (55%).

Greater difficulty due to company size

Rivera Roena said companies with 50 to 249 employees face the greatest difficulty (85%), followed by those with 250 to 999 employees. Conversely, larger companies with more than 5,000 employees reported the least difficulty in finding the talent they need.