Still Firing People in the USA But Still Hiring in Costa Rica – Bank of America

Even though “Bank of America has said it’s cutting 42,500 jobs,” their “offshore operations have grown sharply in the past two years, exceeding 14,000 employees in India, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the Philippines and Costa Rica.”

This topic was covered briefly in a 2009 article entitled Bank Of America Expands In Costa Rica While Firing People In The USA. At that time Bank of America had 600 young bilingual employees working for them in Costa Rica and were actively recruiting 200 more…

• 16th February 2010 – Bank of America Security Offcers Protest Job Losses and Cuts to Health Care Coverage. – “It’s not right that Bank of America can take billions of tax dollars, dole out astronomical bonuses while cutting jobs and benefits from working people,” said Mike Fishman, President of 32BJ SEIU.”
• 20th September 2010 – Layoffs Said to Be Near for Bank of America Unit. “Echoing the slowdown in activity that has hit Wall Street’s biggest institutions, Bank of America plans to cut several hundred jobs in its investment banking unit this week, according to employees.”
• 21st September 2010 – Bank of America Layoffs Coming: Report. “Managers in certain “profit-challenged areas” have been told to cut about 5% of staff, according to the report.”
• 1st December 2010 – Bank of America layoffs hit Charlotte. “Bank of America is laying off a “small percentage” of its staff in the Global Technology & Operations division of the bank.”
• 10th December 2010 – Expect BofA job count to fluctuate throughout 2011. “The bank in recent weeks has announced substantial layoffs as it looks to cut costs.”
• 22nd January 2011 – Bank of America looks for deeper cuts. “Bank of America plans more belt-tightening in 2011, likely meaning more job cuts ahead at the nation’s biggest bank…”

While Bank of America blames some of their job cuts on federal regulations, the Chief Executive Brian Moynihan told analysts on 21st January 2011 that the bank will be more aggressive in cutting costs as the year goes on: “We’ve got to bring the overhead in this company down,” Moynihan told analysts after the bank disclosed a $1.6 billion fourth-quarter loss, adding: “We’ll continue to focus on it across the company broadly.”

Reducing costs means closing branches, firing staff and encouraging customers to use lower-cost services such as ATMs and online banking, but what’s never, ever, ever mentioned is that while Bank of America and many other companies are “cutting” jobs in the USA, they are holding another job fair in Costa Rica.

It’s great for the young, talented, bilingual people of Costa Rica but when you look at the the rapidly deteriorating state of the US economy it’s hard not to agree with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration when he said:

“The result is a lose-lose situation for American employees, American businesses, and the American government. Outsourcing has brought about record unemployment in engineering fields and a major drop in university enrollments in technical and scientific disciplines. Even many of the remaining jobs are being filled by lower paid foreigners brought in on H-1b and L-1 visas. American employees are discharged after being forced to train their foreign replacements.”

Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. 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.