Puerto Rico Department of Labor presents FY25–26 budget request, cites staffing, facilities and legal changes needed

The secretary of Puerto Rico’s Department of Labor and Human Resources, Nitche Irizarri Algarín, presented the agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2025–26 to the House of Representatives’ Commission of Finance on March 26, saying the department needs increased staffing, technology upgrades and changes to its organic law to carry out core functions.

Irizarri told commissioners the department has “an urgent need to recruit essential personnel” and to modernize information systems after finding “an absence of a formal structure” to manage federal funds and weaknesses in the claims system. In her oral presentation she described the creation of a proposed office for external and federal affairs to improve federal grants management and compliance.

Why it matters: The department said current administrative limits have reduced its capacity to manage federal programs, collect receivables and supervise enforcement of labor laws. Committee members repeatedly pressed for data on recurring federal funding and for a plan to avoid sudden service cuts if non‑recurring federal money expires.

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