Despite the location and the fiscal benefits that in some cases the countries of the region offer, the lack of education of the population will be the main barrier to continue attracting large investments.

The lack of guarantee of finding the competent and sustainable human capital necessary for the proper operation of companies is an issue that negatively influences the attraction of important investments in Central America.

See “Foreign Direct Investment is Stagnating” and “Foreign Investment Still Falling”

Regarding the levels of education in Panama, Martesfinanciero.com reports that “… An analysis of the Panamanian labor market shows that 54% of the economically active population has not finished high school and 84% of that group does not have a university degree.”

The article adds that “… Young people and adults continue to be trained in obsolete or impractical skills, while those already identified as required for success in the workplace are left aside: Problem solving (analysis), creative thinking, digital skills, collaborative skills, resilience and formative and transformative leadership.”

Because companies must respond to more demanding markets to be competitive, the automation of tasks is accelerated in several branches of production, which will generate greater demand for competent workforce.

Also see “Workforce Automation: More Threat Than Opportunity”

Costa Rica is an example that the automation of the tasks in the companies are a reality, because, although the process in the country is still incipient, it is predicted that in a short time will stop employing people with low qualifications.

Explains a Nacion.com article that “… In Costa Rica, according to Monge and Hewitt, automation begins to be implemented from routine tasks and easy to standardize. In some cases, the companies introduced automated activities that were totally new and that were not done before.”

The article concludes that “… Thus, the greatest negative impact of these processes would be felt by staff in low-skilled jobs, with very routine tasks and who do not have the skills to assume new roles without extensive training. In medium or highly qualified jobs, the impact is less, as it is easier to retrain and relocate employees to new and more complex jobs. Automation creates previously non-existent jobs and increases the demand for talent with analytical skills, as well as for the development, implementation and maintenance of automated solutions.”

See Martesfinanciero’s article “Is Panama ready for the jobs of the future?” and Nacion.com’s “Most companies in Costa Rica have incipient automation“.