Near Shore Jobs in Panama

(blog.abpanama.com) Panama has a lot of call centers. English is widely spoken here and the laws are friendly to foreign investors. A recent Forbes article refers to “near shore” outsourcing of jobs to Latin America versus off shore outsourcing to Asia.

Regarding call centers India has many English speakers but so does Latin America and especially Central America. The sad fact is that when most of Central America was embroiled in Civil War or run by military dictators or both many fled to the United States where they and their children learned English. As the region has settled its civil wars or moved the issues to the political arena many native sons and daughters have returned home with their English skills.

In the case of Panama many never had to leave to learn English. There is a substantial population of retired military in Panama and the schools have excellent English instruction.

There are two more factors in using Central America, and especially Panama for call centers and other outsourcing. The United States has a substantial Hispanic population for which a Panamanian call center has a ready-made solution in bilingual operators.

The other issue has to do with time zones and with culture. US companies do not need to run night shifts to supervise call centers in Panama and visiting managers have a sense of Panama City being a largely Spanish speaking American city.
 
We present this discussion not suggest that one start a call center or that one buy property and rent to a call center although these may be good ideas. The point is that prosperity and an interconnection of business interests is flowing South from the United States into Latin America. Whether this be related to tourism or retirement in the tropics or buying Panama real estate starting an expatriate business in Panama City our point is that the interconnection of interests and investment will benefit both the United States and the various countries of Latin America, and especially Panama.

As the world economy pauses during a recession we believe that the wise investor will look to the future and invest in business, real estate, and the future of Panama.

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Original Source: Panama Real Estate Blog
Date Retrieved: April 25 2009.