The expectation of employment with employers in the country, for the second quarter decreased four percentage points compared with the same period 2015, when it stood at 17%, still affected three of four regions of the country.
Panama City was the only one in which employers reported they will increase their hiring by two percentage points next quarter, but compared with the figure recorded in the same period last year a decrease of four percentage points is reflected.
Under international company specializing in human resources Manpower, the western region showed a drop of one percentage point in their expectation of employment, from 19% in the first three months of this year to 18% from April to June.
While the central provinces showed a drop of four percentage points, from 13% in the first quarter to 9% in the second.
The most affected, expectations regarding staffing, is the province of Colon, which fell five percentage points in quarterly variation, from 2% to 7%, and an annual decrease of 9%.
Ariel Ayala, Business Development Manager at Manpower Panama, specifically stressed that what is affecting the expectation of employment for Columbus is the crisis being experienced by the Colon Free Zone (CFZ).
He said that although the renovation project of Columbus is standing, the fact is that the closure of businesses and the problem of tariff FTA with Colombia and Venezuela's debt makes entrepreneurs do not have intentions of hiring.
According to statistics, this shopping area is home to around 3,000 companies and since the crisis began have been reported layoffs of about 9,000 employees, of a total of 20,000.
Marcos Torres, president of the Association of Users of the Colon Free Zone (AUZLC), noted that many companies have had to lay off employees during this month, so serious it is the situation in the CFZ.
Condition that could be reflected in the low expectation of job recruitment in this region.
Olmedo Estrada, president of the College of Economists, confirmed that it is taking this situation of low intends to hire in different regions.
Economic areas
Among the sectors most creating jobs in the second quarter is building a positive expectation of employment of 20% and a positive annual change of 9 points compared to 2015.
Among the factors that, according to Manpower, have generated these high expectations are the beginning of works such as the Metro Line two and the Renewal of Columbus.
The study also details the sector of agriculture, fishing and mining assets reported hiring plans with an expectation of 17%.
Says the increase in expectations of this sector, due to a possible increase in the export of agricultural and livestock products.
This argument is rejected by Augusto Jimenez, president of the Association of producers of Highlands, who reiterated that more than 35 thousand hectares unless planted in Panama, so there should be less hired labor.
He noted that less rice produced in the country and last year the country was self-sufficient in onion production was in 2008, so it must have gone down the number of hired employees.
The Comptroller General noted that exports in Panama in 2015, fell by 14.9%.
In this sense, Estrada stressed that the problem of drought by El Niño is affecting strong, especially in the primary sector of the economy that includes agriculture and livestock, which has caused many job losses.
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