Nearly 20,000 Job Losses Reported in Dominican Free Trade Zones

Arturo Peguero, president of the Dominican Free Trade Zone Association (ADZONA is the Spanish acronym), informed earlier this week that massive layoffs in the country´s free trade zones has amounted to 20,000 so far this year.

Mr. Peguero cited soaring operational costs in terms of workforce, power supply and transportation are some of the main cause behind the furloughs, though he anticipated a number of actions are being taken to offset possible ripple effects.

However, scores of other workers are expected to get the ax later this year, especially in the textile factories and workshops operating there.

ADOZONA officials handed in the layoff report to the government a couple of weeks ago when the number of dismissals had already peaked 18,000. “More workers have been fired over the past two week, so the exact figure must be close to 20,000 now,” Mr. Peguero noted.