Resumen ejecutivo: Estudio del mercado laboral de Guatemala (ENG)

The following study, conducted by the USAID Realizing Equitable Access, Retention and Completion in Higher Education (REACH or ALCANZA) Project, is an update of the Labor Market Assessment (LMA) carried out by the USAID LAC Regional Workforce Development Project (also known as Advance or Avanza) in Guatemala in 2017. The objective is to reexamine the current labor market, particularly the demand for professional and vocational skills. This study includes a literature review, a statistical analysis of the evolution of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a statistical analysis of the labor market and the external sector, and an analysis of employment opportunities in the country, including the employment strategy called Guate No Se Detiene (Guatemala don’t stop, in English). This investigation also proposes a methodology for selecting the most relevant provinces (officially called departamentos in Guatemala) where the REACH Project should focus its interventions and helps identify the most pertinent productive sectors in the chosen provinces based on interviews with experts. The selected regions include Guatemala, Alta and Baja Verapaz, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Quiche, and Totonicapan.

Furthermore, this study produces a synthetic index to assess which economic sectors are the most productive based on their relevance and growth potential. The index helps guide the selection of the REACH project’s scholarships and grants, which are intended for college career programs that are the most in-demand by the country’s most productive and fast-growing business sectors.