Capable workers scarce

All the great plans that Panama has rest on one very important resource, skilled labor and it is the  scarcest resource in the country. I have been to meetings in past years where the government has committed to training centers for tourism and construction right here in Boquete, but thus far I have seen nothing. We in the private sector have taken unskilled people and trained them on the job to perform to first world standards, but all of it on a rather small scale. As new businesses open they offer higher wages to our workers forcing us to do the same to retain them and we all end of scrapping over a limited resource. There have been a number of multinational companies recently announcing putting their regional headquarters in Panama. The word is that only one in 40 applicants is qualified and accepted for positions in the first ones hiring. That is a very concerning statistic in such a small country. Here is a short article about this issue from La Prensa today.

Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the demand for capable workers in the booming Panamanian economy.

Advertisements for qualified managers, executives, supervisors, and other personnel fill the classified pages. "There is a scarcity of talented people such as engineers who speak English, capable bilingual accountants and other professionals," complained Marisela Urriola, manager of Manpower in Panama, adding that private as well as public education is failing to fulfilling its responsibilities. "The best engineers are graduates of the Universidad Tecnológica, but they have no bilingual program," she noted.

The rector of the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, Salvador Rodríguez, recognizes the lack of qualified people but says the problem is being addressed by the establishment of a language center.

The tourism industry is having trouble finding qualified people, too, which has compelled the Cámara de Turismo Panamá to implement a massive training program for 15,000 people, according to the group's president, Jorge Loayza.

A spokesperson for Panama's private colleges, Nivia Rossana Castrellón, stressed that the problem is complex and must be addressed by society at large.