IT Workforce

Overview:

The Dominican Republic is not a strong country in regards to the IT Workforce. Although there are 35 universities and 5 vocational colleges in the country, several factors impact the country's ability in not having a strong IT workforce.

Highlights:

Spanish is the language of the Dominican Republic . Although the literacy rate is approximately 86%, the only Dominicans that speak English are those that work in the tourism sector. Even in Santo Domingo , the largest city in the Dominican Republic, most natives speak only Spanish. Additionally, Spanish is spoken differently than in other countries, with the last letter of phrases often dropped (6).

In regards to the Networked Readiness Index, Networked Society in the Dominican Republic ranked 54th, with Networked Learning falling 55th , ICT Opportunities ranking 45th , and Social Capital ranking 63rd.

In 2003, the economically active population of the Dominican Republic was 3.3 million people. 59% were dedicated to the service industry, 16.92% to industry, and 16.41% working in agriculture. The unemployment rate was 16.11% in the active population. Approximately 7% of the country is not even looking for employment, and this percentage is not included in the active population.

As of 2002, approximately 286,000 students were enrolled in the universities. The programs with the most students were education, law, marketing, accounting, computer engineering, management, medicine, psychology, industrial engineering and cavity engineering. Together, these majors counted for 75.9% of studies. Additionally, the country ranked 43rd in "Brain Drain". Many graduates in the ICT field leave the country for the higher wages that they can find in other countries.

There are other issues in the ICT education as well. The university-level curriculum is outdated, and revision guidelines impede the ability to introduce the latest ICT skills. Computers are common in private schools, however, computer access is a serious issue. The country is ranked 57th in Internet Access in School. Less than 10% of schools have ICT centers, however, this is comparable to Costa Rica, which is a leader in software development and outsourcing services. Obviously, Costa Rica is much more successful in working with the items that they actually have versus the Dominican Republic. (16)

Although the IT workforce is not a strength in the Dominican Republic, there is a new University that is being opened near the Cyber Park and should potentially improve the workforce situation. Also, if opportunities arise within the Cyber Park, possibly "brain drain" could be decreased by increasing the number of local opportunities.