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LABOR SHORTAGE NEARS "CRISIS". Costa Rica's labor shortage is reaching what some are calling "crisis" levels that could damage agricultural production and cause the recent construction boom to grind to a halt, reports The Tico Times (Sept. 4, 2007):
Not enough Costa Ricans want to work manual labor jobs, say govt, and private sector officials. A 2006 law made it harder and more expensive to hire immigrants desperate for jobs. A reform of that law is creeping its way through the National Assembly. The shortage is most serious in the agriculture and construction, said Labor Minister Francisco Morales. He estimates there are nearly 70,000 jobs to fill just in the agricultural sector, including 5,000 in sugarcane, 5,000 in banana, 4,000 in pineapple and 45,000 for this season's coffee harvest;
Nicaraguan immigrants have picked up the slack. In 2006, the agriculture industry employed an estimated 247,000 workers, including 67,000 foreigners - mostly Nicaraguans - to bring in the harvest. About 28,500 migrant workers enter legally every year to work in the farming industry. Farm products were the second largest export in 2006, accounting for US$1.7 billion and 20% of all exports, according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER);
In Aug. 2006, a law went into effect, requiring all work permit paperwork to be taken care of in foreigners' home countries. Eemployers looking to make foreign hires have to travel abroad to do the recruiting, adding expense and hassle. Coffee producers - which will employ some 150,000 workers for the harvest this year, 40% of those foreigners - are looking into mechanizing a portion of the harvest, said National Coffee Institute (1CAFE) Exec. Dir....