Employment in Nicaragua’s free zone sector continues growing

May 12, 2011 - Employment within Nicaragua’s free zone regime reached new record levels by April 2011, employing approximately 92,000 people in the 148 companies that comprise the sector, according to figures provided by the Nicaraguan Government. The figures surpass the previous record of 89,189 employees registered in February 2009.

The government reported that 2,073 additional Nicaraguans were employed in the first quarter of 2011, representing a 2.3 percent growth when compared to figures from December 2010, when the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN, due to its acronym in Spanish), reported 89,927 employees in the free zones sector.

The Nicaraguan Association of the Textiles Industry (Anitec, for its acronym in Spanish) reported that in the case of the textile sector, which has the majority of companies operating under the free zones regime, they account for nearly 65,000 of the total employees.

Dean García, Executive Director of Anitec, mentioned that due to the visible growth trends, business investments and export volumes are expected to generate 5,000 additional job opportunities during the rest of the year.

García explained that the employment growth rate is associated to the fact that textile companies are investing in expanding their production capacity. As an example, 10 of the largest factories in the country expanded their production capacity by 50 to 100 percent.

During 2010 Nicaragua surpassed its annual projections of textile and apparel exports, exceeding the one billion dollar mark for the first time in history. The country’s textiles sector grew by 14 percent in 2010 when compared to 2009, reaching US$1,018.1 million and demonstrating the sector’s dynamic recovery.

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