Costa Rica is not providing technology, electronics and medical firms with
enough of the analytically minded, English-speaking engineers and qualified
technicians that the companies are clamoring for, according to preliminary
results of a survey coordinated by the Coalition for Development
Initiatives (CINDE).
The coalition, which promotes Costa Rica to potential investors abroad,
asked foreign firms operating in Costa Rica in late 1999 if they were
satisfied with the creativity, productivity and overall quality of the
national labor force.
The Export Promotion Office (PROCOMER) and the Zonas Francas Corporation,
which oversees Free Zone operations, are collaborating with CINDE to
analyze the preliminary results, which should be released to participating
companies on Aug. 11.
A survey analyst who wished to remain anonymous told The Tico Times this
week that companies are having a tough time finding an adequate supply of
fluent English-speakers with analytical skills and an educational specialty
in computers, electronics, metal mechanics or other related field.
"We're far from satisfying these companies' demands," the analyst said.
"The problem is that we've generated a labor pool that is divorced from the
reality of the country's labor market. That's why we have so many attorneys
that we don't know what to do with them."
The survey was conducted in response to World Bank concerns that Costa
Rica's education and vocational school system was unprepared to produce
enough qualified professionals to staff the high-tech companies the country
wants to attract.The companies work under the Free Zone export regime,
which exempts them from income tax and allows them to import raw materials
duty-free.
The companies' multinational nature requires bilingual and sometimes
bicultural employees.Shortly after U.S. multinational microchip
manufacturer Intel announced in 1996 that it had chosen Costa Rica as the
site of a mammoth assembly and testing plant, the World Bank's Foreign
Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) conducted an analysis of the country's
university-level technical education programs.
The analysis revealed dropout rates of 35-45 percent in coursework critical
for high-tech professions.Intel's current 2,100 workers could blossom to as
many as 4,000 as the plant expands in coming years to compensate for world
demand for its microprocessors.
Other large operations, such as medical equipment exporters Baxter
Healthcare and Abbott Laboratories; the world administrative center for
Procter & Gamble, and hair-dryer and beauty products manufacturer Conair
require large numbers of qualified, English-speaking workers.According to
the survey analyst, the demand is expected to grow as more foreign firms
look to Costa Rica for low-cost, well-educated workers in a peaceful and
politically stable environment.
The companies praised Costa Rican workers as literate and fast learners.
The results show, however, that many companies are not finding truly fluent
English- speakers among the hundreds of job applicants they interview
yearly. The skill is critical, they say, to maintain fluid communications
with the firms' often U.S.-based corporate offices.
"Up to now, we've been meeting our hiring needs, but we have definitely
identified that English-language skills are weak in certain key sectors,
like accounting and finance," explained Randall Chinchilla, corporate
manager of Procter & Gamble's Global Business Services center, under
construction at the Forum business park in the west San Jose suburb of
Santa Ana.
P&G's Costa Rica operation receives accounting data from its offices
worldwide, making bilingual accountants a necessity.
"We've had to turn down some excellent candidates because they lacked the
language skills," said Chinchilla. "We're compensating by providing English
courses for workers in these certain key areas. Without English, growth
opportunities within the company are fewer."
Intel's corporate manger, Danilo Arias, concurs with Chinchilla.
"We've been very satisfied with our employees' professional and technical
ability, but we would like to see the school system require total English
proficiency for graduation," he said. "The level of English most applicants
have is too basic for the duties required by the company. We encourage our
workers to improve their English, and have agreements with language schools
as a supplement to our training program."
Other firms questioned worry about fulfilling their future demand for
qualified employees as their exports continue to grow. The full results of
the Free Zone survey will be available by mid-month, the analyst said.
