Citing lack of raw material to continue operating, in Costa Rica the Venezuelan company Alunasa has submitted an application to temporarily suspend the labor contracts of 300 employees.
The Ministry of Labor reported that the company, of Venezuelan origin, submitted the request to suspend contracts for a period of 3 months, while focusing on obtaining raw material in other markets, with the aim of resuming activities in the short term.
For the first quarter of 2018, 24% of companies in Costa Rica expect to increase their payrolls, 71% do not foresee changes and 4% anticipate a reduction.
From the ManpowerGroup report:
Comparative by Region Employers of the six regions foresee an increase in their workforce for the following quarter.The strongest hiring plans are reported in Heredia, where employers report a Net Employment Outlook of + 22%.
Florexpo indicates excessive paperwork as the main reason behind the decision to close its operations in Costa Rica and move to Guatemala, making 400 employees redundant.
"In Guatemala an import permit seed is processed in two weeks and is effective for one year, while in our country, unfortunately, the process takes four months and the validity of the permit is for a month, this made it impossible to program negotiations and increased business costs by 300%. "
The rate at which jobs are created in the country has declined in the last nine months.
The sectors that have been affected the most are trade and agriculture, as opposed to the construction sector, which has shown an upturn and is expected to show further growth in the remainder of the year.
In the public sector, the growth rate has reduced from 5% to 2%, while in the private sector, it fell from 4% to 3% in the last nine months.
Standard Fruit Company, Costa Rican subsidiary of multinational Dole, announced closure of the container yard in Limon.
Juan Carlos Rojas, vice president of Standard Fruit, attributed the closure to reduced earnings caused by the falling Dollar. The company exports from Costa Rica, pineapple, melon and bananas.
La Nacion reported on its website that “multinational Del Monte announced it will not produce melon during the 2010-2011 period at a farm in Philadelphia, Carrillo, Province of Guanacaste."
In July 2009, there were 57.000 less jobs at exporting companies when compared to the same period of 2008.
Data from the Exporter Census 2009, conducted by Trade Promotion Agency Procomer, states there are 351.767 people working in the sector.
"The census, conducted in July, surveyed 2.117 companies who sold more than $12.000 between 2008 and the first half of 2009", reported Elfinancierocr.com
Human Resources companies report a 50% decrease in middle management hiring.
Eric Quesada Ramírez, Manpower's regional director, said that salaries have also been affected.
"Where companies offered a monthly salary of $1.000 for management services, they are now offering $700", told Quesada to Elsalvador.com. "If the worker wants more than these $700, then the company looks for another candidate".