Offshore Outsourcing To Costa Rica Continues To Grow

There are many multinational companies that have “outsourced” parts of their operations to Costa Rica.

“Costa Rica ranks third behind powerhouses India and China as the most competitive offshore destination… Not bad for a country roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined, and whose population of just over 4 million is less than half the size of Los Angeles County’s.”

Costa Rica is in a convenient geographic location to be able to service clients in North America so companies like Intel, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett Packard, Baxter Healthcare and Fujitsu have 10,000+ employees here in Costa Rica.

“…Costa Rica continues to be a strategic site for us and now our best products are manufactured here. I believe this speaks for itself…” Paul Otellini, President and CEO, Intel Corporation.

“The quality of education we found in C.R. is impressive. We have confirmed that the talent and training of the people is one of the best we have seen worldwide…”
Alfonso Cos. Vice President for GBS North America Procter & Gamble

‘Arthrocare is very proud of its Costa Rica operation. We have been extremely impressed by the well-educated, experienced and talented managers and employees that make up our Costa Rican team. They successfully got our manufacturing facility up and running quickly and continue to provide high-quality, critical support to our company.’ Michael Baker. President & CEO, ArthroCare Corp.

‘The cost of labor is one-tenth of our US plant and turnover is very low.’ Alexander Unfried. General Manager, Inamed.

“Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. recently announced it would cut 600 loan processing jobs in Chatsworth and move some of them to Costa Rica. Palo Alto-based HP plans to nearly triple its business service workforce here to 3,500 workers within two years. The lure: lower costs, an educated, bilingual workforce, political stability, fat tax incentives and its location.”

Unfortunately, even with labor costs a fraction of what they are in the USA, Costa Rica has seen a few companies move their operations out of the country to save money and make them more ‘competitive’. Some call this the race to the bottom.

Maersk Global Services Centre (a part of Maersk) recently announced that they were laying off 350 employees and closing their operations in the Forum Business Park in Costa Rica and would move operations to India and the Philipines.

Turning Disdvantages Into Advantages:

A few years ago, if you called from the USA to speak with a ‘customer service representative,’ you could nearly always tell that you were speaking with someone who was not physically located in the USA because of the unmistakeable foreign accent, today it’s a very different story.

As an offshore, private wealth management advisor (for non-US citizens only) on a daily basis, I deal with people in the USA, UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the Philipines and each year I am amazed at the level of very educated English that I am hearing.

Earlier today I was speaking with a gentleman in Manila, Philipines who, I am not kidding you, speaks better English than I do as well as most of the Americans and Brits that I know and yes! He’s probably paid less than one tenth of what a ‘customer service representative’ would earn in the USA.

All this is fantastic for Costa Rica (for the time being anyway) but what will happen to the job market in the USA in ten years when there are 500,000 times as many people in China, India and the Philipines speaking perfect English?

What jobs will be available for our children and grandchildren in the USA?

You can leave your own feedback on this topic in our Discussion Forum here.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.