Manpower: Puerto Rico leads global ranking in easing talent shortage
Only 53% of the island’s employers are facing hiring difficulties.
Puerto Rico is the jurisdiction with the least difficulty filling job vacancies worldwide, according to ManpowerGroup’s 2025 Global Talent Shortage Survey. The island ranked lowest among 42 surveyed countries, with only 53% of employers reporting hiring challenges.
The survey, which included responses from 40,000 employers worldwide, evaluated hiring trends, sector-specific shortages and employer strategies to address workforce challenges.
ManpowerGroup’s general manager in Puerto Rico, Melissa Rivera-Roena, noted the island’s progress in addressing shortages.
“The survey shows us a very encouraging picture that also helps explain why there is a low unemployment rate,” Rivera-Roena said. “It doesn’t mean that there is no difficulty in finding employees, but rather that the difficulty [of filling] positions has decreased compared to the previous two years.”
Puerto Rico’s ranking has improved significantly:
- In 2023, it ranked fifth worldwide, with 83% of employers reporting hiring difficulties.
- In 2024, it ranked 17th, with 78% struggling to find workers.
- In 2025, it became the least affected location, with only 53% facing challenges.
This contrasts with countries like Germany (86%), Israel (85%) and Portugal (84%), which reported the most severe shortages.
Despite overall improvements, key sectors in Puerto Rico still face hiring difficulties: life sciences and health care (71%), consumer goods and services (66%), and manufacturing (62%). On the other hand, information technology (24%) and energy and communications (34%) reported the least difficulty.
Employers continue to struggle to recruit professionals in customer satisfaction, sales and marketing, consulting, risk and governance (ESG), operations and logistics, and environmental skills.
Hiring challenges by company size
Medium-sized companies (50-249 employees) reported the greatest difficulty filling positions, at 66%.
- Micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees): 58%
- Small companies (10-49 employees): 52%
- Large companies (250-5,000 employees): 47%
To address these challenges, employers in Puerto Rico have adopted strategies to attract and retain talent, such as flexible hours (26%), retraining employees (22%), salary increases and temporary employment (21%), flexible work locations (20%), artificial intelligence-driven automation to reduce personnel needs (18%), and lower academic requirements (16%).
“It is very comforting to know that Puerto Rico is reducing the difficulties in finding talent to fill its vacancies, given the impact it has on the economy,” said ManpowerGroup’s general director for Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, Alberto Alesi. “I urge employers to redouble their efforts in that direction.”
