Leading businessman José Luis Corripio Estrada (Pepín), president of the Grupo Corripio, urged that legislators pass First Job Code that includes measures to encourage businesses to hire more young people for an extended trial period of two to three years. He said the present lack of opportunities for unemployed young people can lead to social problems. Corripio Estrada said if there are not any changes in the labor requirements for company, “we are never going to have young people working, and we are all going to bear the consequences because of increased rates of social conflict and despair among young people who are either unemployed or underemployed.
Corripio noted that in modern societies businesses create the jobs. He warned that the government cannot continue to create fake jobs (botellas) because this does not tackle the unemployment problem or contribute to the development of the country. He said the role of the government is to create the conditions for businesses and entrepreneurs to generate the jobs and wealth.
He said that within 15 to 20 years the jobless number of university educated young professionals could reach 200,000 to 300,000.
Corripio also called for a reduction in taxes for small businesses. He criticized that small business fall under the same tax schemes as big business. Corripio noted that there is a lot of propaganda from the government to encourage businesses to join the formal sector, but the obstacles that these small businesses face make that notion a fantasy.
Corripio participated in the “Jobs and Taxes” conference on occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the Federacion Dominicana de Comerciantes at the Barcelo Santo Domingo. The president of the Federacion Dominicana de Comerciantes also spoke of the high cost of doing business. He said that in addition to wages, the additional costs per hired worker are around 50% of wages in the country. He said this works against competitiveness and called for the tax agency to recognize that companies make a legal provision fund to cover severance of employees.
Also present at the conference were Tax Agency director Magin Diaz, Industry & Commerce Minister Nelson Toca Simó, businessman Manuel Estrella and police director, Mayor General Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte.
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El Nacional
22 January 2018
