2023-05-06 07:09:46
Lack of workers: work stoppage in Guatemala City.
Immigration is considered in fact one of the engines of economic recovery in receiving countries. However, in countries of origin, such as Guatemala, companies face increasing challenges.
in the fields of Guatemala, women take the reins. “This is not just about farmworkers. It is also, and above all, mechanics, welders, tractor drivers. All these tasks are being assumed more and more by women,” reports Luis Fernando Leal, from the Coordinating Committee of Guatemalan Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF), in an interview with DW.
The labor shortage has a serious background: every year, Tens of thousands of people leave the Central American country for the north. Most are fleeing violence, crime and poverty. Many leave in search of a new perspective, higher salaries and, above all, because they want to join their families there.
This migratory phenomenon is producing a bump in the labor market, not only in Guatemala, but also in other Central American countries. According to official figures, almost 86,000 migrants were registered by authorities in the US in the first four months of 2023 alone. Billions of foreign remittances return to the country each year from emigrants. Last year it was about 18,000 million US dollars, according to the Central Bank of Guatemala.
Industries rely on new approaches
In Guatemala, sectors especially affected by emigration, such as agriculture or construction, are now trying to replace migrant workers with women. “The positive part of this evolution is that it creates an opportunity for women in the labor market,” says Leal. “Before you didn’t see women driving tractors or trucks, but now you do.” She says that there is even a company that works only with women. “All the mechanical harvesters in that company are run by women,” she says.
Some criticisms about migration as a cause of labor shortages come from civil society: “One of the main reasons is that there are very few well-paid jobs in Guatemala. The first reason for emigration to the US is the poor working conditions in Guatemala,” says Nery Rodenas, of the ODHAG Center for Human Rights, of the Archdiocese of Guatemala City, in an interview with DW. “If the job paid better, people would stay here. No one leaves their home voluntarily.”
wages too low
Guatemalan businessmen do not agree with these statements. They say they don’t stand a chance against the $15 an hour wages paid in US fields. Many immigrants would not be aware that the cost of living in the US is much higher. On the one hand, non-governmental organizations from the US or Europe criticize lower wages, but on the other, consumers in industrialized countries would expect lower prices, they criticize.
Politicians have cynically accepted the situation: Every person in poverty who leaves Guatemala, somehow makes their way into the United States and transfers money to their country, is one less problem, but stabilizes the Guatemalan financial budget. Meanwhile, companies suffer the consequences.
José Fernando Orellana, from the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction, summarizes the situation in the newspaper La Hora: “Migration is the cause of the lack of qualified workers for the business sector.” Given that, according to representatives of the Association of Construction Contractors (AGCC), the prices of raw materials such as iron and cement have also risen, works in the country are now suffering from delays, bottlenecks, and are even paralyzed. Although the industry has raised wages, this has so far failed to stop emigration north.
Transparency note: Parts of this article were investigated on a press trip at the invitation of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF) of Guatemala.
(gg/cp)
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