Here’s a welcome piece of news for expat Peruvians who are seeking shelter from the U.S./global financial crisis: The Peruvian MInistry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE) is offering economic incentives for Peruvians who emigrated abroad and now want to return to Peru. A new program will make it easier for returning Peruvians to find work in their homeland.
MTPE wants to boost employment in the country’s construction and tourism industries. The ministry is offering “incentives” for returning Peruvians to work in those fields, says Jorge Villasante, the program’s director.
Translating a story from Peru.com, Living in Peru reports today:
The Peruvian Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE) will boost a program of incentives for Peruvians who emigrated abroad and that now want to return to the country so they can count on facilities for being integrated in the economic activity, mainly in sectors such as construction and tourism.
The head of this portfolio, Jorge Viillasante, indicated that this initiative would be part of contingency programs that the central government has been preparing in order to mitigate the effects of the world crisis.
“A main issue is to define what the government can do to make the return of Peruvians easier, now that countries where they reside are in crisis. This global situation leads us to plan policies that can provide development alternatives to those who return to the country”, he said.
It is possible to consider a program of incentives to direct Peruvians’ investments to the most important economic activities for the country. “Construction and tourism are two sectors in which investment can be boosted”, he stated.
According to the report of Statistics of Peruvians Abroad, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2005, the number of fellow countrymen that reside abroad fluctuates between 1.8 and 2.2 million.
Most of them are in the United States, followed by countries such as Argentina, Venezuela, Spain and Italy.
I’d like some specifics on this plan — what exactly are the “incentives”? Do they apply to prospective workers or investors or both? When will the program get up and running?
Pending the details, I’m hopeful about the program. It sends a clear message to expatriated Peruvians that they have a place in Peru’s economy and that Peru looks after its own.
That message must come as a relief to Peruvians living abroad, particularly in the United States where anti-immigrant sentiment is reaching a fever pitch. Immigrants are being blamed for the dearth of jobs for nonimmigrant citizens, for exploiting social services, for “causing” the U.S. mortgage crisis and many other phenomena. Never mind that U.S. corporations have gutted the country’s economic engine by shipping millions of jobs overseas, slashing benefits for workers and failing to pay workers a living wage that corresponds with the real price of housing, food and fuel. Immigrants make easy targets, and many U.S. citizens would rather point a finger at the guy who picks tomatoes rather than at a corporate or government entity.
Given this anti-immigrant climate and the rash of deportations enacted by Homeland Security in the last 14 months, it’s not a bad idea for Peruvians living in the U.S. to consider returning to Peru.
The move won’t be right for everyone, but for those who want out or who want to return to family and friends in Peru, it appears that Peru wants to make the transition easier.
I give a thumbs-up to that.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 "el kibitzer" // Oct 22, 2008 at 6:04 pm
barb,
you’re such a prolific writer, my blog can’t keep up with yours. anyway, i hope that “bob the builder” is not related to “joe the plumber”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4994619.ece
don’t forget to vote!
2 Barb // Oct 23, 2008 at 12:44 pm
No, I don’t think Bob the Builder’s real-life Latino counterparts in the US are related to McCain’s fictious Joe the Plumber. I referenced the children’s TV character just to give a “face” to the expatriated Peruvians whom the Peruvian government is targeting with this new program.
Following some links on your site and on Hispanic Tips, I found numerous articles about how huge numbers of Hispanics in the United States are out of work now that demand for new housing has plummeted. Some of the unemployed workers are traveling to other parts of the US seeking work; others are returning to their countries of origin; others are being caught up in raids of illegals.
Yes, of course, I remembered to vote! I want the US to change for the better, and I’m not falling for this Joe the Plumber nonsense.
3 Cecilia Jakubowycz // Oct 25, 2008 at 9:39 pm
It will be great to have more information about the subject. I’ve been living in Miami for the past 15 years and it is extremely sad to see the USA like this. Going back is an idea that I’ve been considering for many months already. Please keep us posted if you have more information about the incentives.
Regarding the elections I’ll vote this week(my 1st time), by the way, the ballot looks like the Bible!
4 Barb // Oct 26, 2008 at 10:34 am
I’ll post again when I learn more about the program’s specifics, Cecilia. It’s easy for politicians to make announcements, but far harder to implement programs that really achieve their stated goals.
I will say that Peru in 2008 is vastly different than the Peru I first visited in 1995. Back then, the “empleos” section of El Comercio was a sad, thin affair, just a few pages. I remember seeing large advertisements for training programs that promised to teach people how to become mattress stuffers, as a way to earn a good living. I think they called it “mattress reconditioning,” which means that they took old mattresses and put new coils and fluff in them. The ads made this sounds like a wonderful career. It was so sad because there weren’t many other career options offered then. I could imagine being a young person in Lima then and seeing this ad and feeling depressed about my job prospects.
What difference today. There is a 50-page want ad section with jobs advertised for chefs, marketing reps, delivery people, teachers. Salaries are lower than those in the US, of course, but the sheer abundance of jobs advertised shows that there is work for people who want it.
I haven’t seen those ads for mattress stuffers lately.