Latin America has traditionally been a region of immigrants. The Central American and Caribbean nations, like Mexico, have seen the flow of people leaving their countries in search of more and better opportunities grow for decades.
Currently, the migratory panorama of Central America is characterized by numerous and massive dramatic migrations. In this context, there is a main trajectory: from the Central American countries of the Northern Triangle, made up of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala through Mexico to the United States.
It is important to understand what Central American migration consists of, in which people leave their countries fleeing violence, political repression, and economic difficulties in the region.
In 2021, Honduras reported a figure of 937,000 displaced abroad, and 247,000 internally displaced due to violence, achieving for the first time the ranking of the 25 territories with the most displaced people according to the IDMC and NRC Global Internal Displacement Report.
Still, the wave of immigrants from Honduras is relatively new, with more than half of Honduran immigrants currently living in the United States arriving in 2000 or later, and about a quarter arriving since 2006.
Difficult social and economic conditions have been the main cause of the migration of Honduran citizens. In 2013, 64.5% of Hondurans lived in poverty, according to data provided by the World Bank. The question that arises in such a complex reality is, how to counteract this trend in a country that has numerous resources for it?
One way to do this is with the support of international organizations, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has recently joined forces with Honduras to promote a migration policy that helps coordinate the efforts of state institutions that monitor and oversee the migratory flow of that country.
The other consists of generating more and better employment opportunities at the local level, which allow the comprehensive development of people of active working age. This method has proven to be particularly successful and is explored further below.
Employment opportunities to stem the flight of human capital
The goal of any job creation strategy is to stimulate healthy economic growth. In a free market economy like the Honduran one, the government does not need to do much to stop migration if companies that are constantly generating well-paid jobs operate in the territory.
Thanks to the role played by these companies, the growth of the economy is healthy, and people find it less attractive to migrate abroad in a context of uncertainty. The generation of employment opportunities encourages greater academic and professional preparation, and makes the labor force more competitive, thus creating better salary conditions in general.
Grupo Karim’s, a leading company in the region in the textile sector and industrial real estate projects, with a presence in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States, has exemplified the relationship that exists between the generation of well-paid employment opportunities and less migratory flow.
The job opportunities that the Group has materialized in advanced manufacturing processes, in projects as relevant as the Green Valley Advanced Manufacturing Hub, located in Santa Barbara, Honduras, already amount to 14,000 jobs, and have had a clear impact on less migration since This region.
In the same way, and thanks to an innovative and attractive concept for foreign investment, part of the Altia Smart City projects already has 12,000 jobs generated for the BPO and ITO industry, and the company’s impact is also made palpable in the more than 1,000 jobs in all the Group’s textile operations.
Figures are cold and rarely lie. Grupo Karim’s has invested more and hired more workers with each passing year. Thanks to this process, a greater number of Hondurans begin a positive cycle for themselves and their families, spending even more money in the economy, which further increases its overall performance. And if a country’s economy is doing well, people are rarely interested in leaving it.
The correlation between greater job creation and less migration represents one of the keys to development. Employment is a means to an end: it is designed to serve people, promote their personal growth, and reduce poverty. For this reason, Grupo Karim’s supports the growth of qualitative employment, which aims to promote economic, social and environmental aspects that result in the well-being of Honduras and its people.