Companies inside Coyol Free Zone managed to keep all their personnel, and not only that, but they also created 1,500 new positions during 2020. These figures represent an increase of 10% in the current positions inside the Park, employing 16,500 people.
Most of the new positions created in 2020, specifically 55%, were recruited virtually, and are occupied by women.
This information becomes relevant when one takes into account that women make up the majority of the unemployed in Costa Rica, a situation worsened by the pandemic. The unemployment rate for women was 23.9% between May and July of this year, according to the National Institute of Statistic and Censuses (INEC, in Spanish).
With more than 70% of the companies expanding their operations in the Park, the sources of employment keep on growing. Further opportunities will come from new future operations, like those of Bayer’s pharmaceutical division, Establishment Labs new campus, and Teradyne.
While nearly 500,000 Costa Ricans currently face unemployment, these companies provide high-quality job opportunities in areas like Medical Devices, manufacturing operators, engineering, IT, software development, and customer service, among others.
Employment in Coyol Free Zone is full of benefits, such as training and growth career opportunities, exceptional working conditions, an exclusive and safe transportation system, fair pay and all the protections that Costa Rican law offers to formal workers.
Remunerations in the Free Zone Regime are 1.2 times higher than the average of the private-sector salaries, according to the latest balance on Free Zones made by Procomer, the Government’s agency for foreign commerce.
Coyol Free Zone also offers opportunities for virtual training for inexperienced candidates, which allows them to opt for a position in one of the companies inside the Park, even if it is their first job.
Those interested in a job inside Coyol Free Zone can also find training in Centro Coyol, where master’s degrees, technical programs, and free courses related to the Life Science sector, are available, thanks to an alliance with the Instituto Tecnológico of Costa Rica. Students can learn about Medical Devices, supply chains, modern manufacturing methods, quality, and logistics, among other courses demanded by the top exporting industry in Costa Rica.
Other alliances include an ongoing training program of the INA – National Learning Institute for people residing in the Western cantons, who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical industry. The framework cooperation agreement between INA and CODE Development Group will also define research areas of interest to the country within the Life Sciences sector, thus strengthening business competitiveness and the technical-scientific capabilities of the country’s human resources.
Also, an education program signed by Coyol Free Zone and the Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center (CCCN) will allow to raise the English level of the students of the Professional Technical Schools (CTP) of San Rafael de Poás and San Rafael de Alajuela, through virtual classes that will last until October 2022. This kind of agreement guarantees candidates with a level of English suitable to work in Coyol Free Zone companies.