More than 32,000 Salvadorans work in the technology sector, according to the World Bank.
El Salvador concentrates 20.8 per cent of the employment offered in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Central America, according to the World Bank (WB).
The report, entitled “Report on progress and digital trends,” published last March, notes thatIn El Salvador about 32,000 people were employed in the ICT sector In 2022, of the more than 154,000 working in the area in the region.
According to the World Bank, 13,000 of these jobs were added in the manufacture of technology, consisting of personnel engaged in working with electronic components, computers and peripheral and communications equipment, as well as the electronic devices sector.
For its part, more than 141,000 Central Americans remained in the ICT services sector, where they worked in areas such as publishing, audiovisual and broadcasting, telecommunications, data centers and cloud computing, artificial intelligence and analysis of “big data.”
This group also includes information technology consultancy and subcontracting (TI) services, as well as operational and application software. The latter includes information platforms, search engines and social networks.
The World Bank noted that while the ICT sector does not represent a large portion of workers, it has maintained an increase in the number of employees in recent years, driven by information technology services.
More than 68 million people worked in ICT companies by 2022, according to the WB, a figure that exceeds the 37 million reported in 2000.
The contribution of the ICT sector to the share of global employment grew modestly from 1.3 per cent in 2000 to 2 per cent in 2022, and most new jobs were added in IT, the document highlighted.
ICT in the region
El Salvador is the third country where the highest proportion of employment in the ICT sector was concentrated, surpassed by Costa Rica, where more than 50,000 people worked in companies of this type, and for Guatemala, which covered about 37,000 and accounted for 24 per cent of the entire region.
In detail, in Honduras the ICT services sector has totaled more than 20,000 collaborators, 13 per cent of the total Central America, while in Panama ICTs employed 15,000 people, 9.7 per cent.
Belize and Nicaragua were the only countries in the region that did not report employment in the ICT sector.
In addition, Guatemala and Honduras did not have collaborators in the technology manufacturing sectors.
Employment in the Salvadoran market
Despite hundreds of Salvadorans working in the ICT sector, the trade and restaurant sector is the one that pushes more than a third of formal employment in El Salvador.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTPS) reported in February that El Salvador overcame themillion workers2023. Of this amount, 32 per cent worked in the trade, restaurant and hotel sector, as well as in transport, storage and food services.
Second was the manufacturing industry, while 21 per cent worked in professional, scientific, technical and administrative activities. For its part, 9 per cent worked in the area of services and 4 per cent in financial and safe activities.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo