Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › Cost of Labor in Costa Rica
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March 22, 2007 at 12:00 am #182276plasticbradMember
I own a business in the US. As part of my own personal migration plan, I have been in contact with some businesses to move a piece of my customer service work to CR. Hoping that someday soon I can manage part of the year in CR and part in the US. I was surprised to hear that a fluent English speaking customer support rep would earn a minimum of $900/month. Could this be correct? It is certainly less than in the US, but it seems like that is a very high price considering some of the salaries I read about on this forum and others.
Just looking for some feedback.
Thank you.
March 22, 2007 at 10:16 pm #182277AndrewKeymasterYou are competing with a LOT of companies here… BIG multi-national companies who are happy to pay good money for English language speakers.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMarch 23, 2007 at 12:06 am #182278scottbensonMemberwow plastic how much cheaper do you want? I don’t know if you know how well educated these ticos are down here! How ever for the type of customer support applicants you will be having people with collage degrees applying!
March 23, 2007 at 12:23 am #182279plasticbradMemberIt just stuck me as odd. I had read recently about lawyers, doctors and dentist earning an average of $750/ month. Seemed to me they would have been higher paid. But Scott makes a good point about foreign corps increasing the English speaking tech/support wages.
Good help is a bargin at any price;)
March 23, 2007 at 12:43 pm #182280DavidCMurrayParticipantPlasticbrad, I don’t know what you’ve been reading but I don’t think it’s accurate. My doctors charge c30,000 for an hour-long examination and consultation. If they see (say) eight patients a day and half the charge is actually profit to them, then they’re earning about c120,000 or +/-$250 a day.
My architect got 10.5% for his total architectural service from conceptual design through blueprinting and finally to construction oversight and final inspection. On a $100,000 house, that’s $$10,500 and it wasn’t his only project this year.
My attorney charges about c10,000 for a one-hour consultation. You can do the math.
Point is, Costa Rica professionals are not working for the U.S. minimum wage, but they still work for a great deal less than their U.S. counterparts.
March 26, 2007 at 1:45 pm #182281maravillaMembermy gardener makes 850 colones an hour. that´s up from the 600 colones he made last year. it´s still only about $1.60 an hour. the maestro de obra on my house makes about $340 a month. a common laborer makes 30,000 colones a week. recently the wife of one of my workers died and the neighborhood took up a collection to help him with his two small children. we raised $270. that was the equivalent of one month´s pay. someone who works for Intel will make around $800 a month. when i was at the embassy last year, a young Tica was applying for a work visa as Intel was sending her to <New Jersey for 6 months. the guy at the embassy asked her how much she made her. she told him $800 a month. he asked her how much she would be making in new jersey and she said the same. he told her, go tell Intel you ned a raise to $50,000 because that´s what someone with your job in the states would make. for $800 a month you won´t get a rat hole to live in. salaries are still hideously in costa rica, so i wouldn´t complain about what you have to pay anybody down here.
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