Cuenca has highest employment rate but only 1 in 3 Ecuadorians are fully employed; Starbucks is coming to Ecuador; Air taxi service offered in Cuenca

Miércoles, 1/5/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Presentación de la obra de teatro ‘Munay’, en la CCE (Presentation of the play ‘Munay’ at the CCE) – The play ‘Munay’ will be presented el jueves 2/5 a las 20:00 in the Sala “Alfonso Carrasco” in the Casa de la Cultura (Luis Cordero 7-22, 2nd floor). The play is a fusion of genres that combines comedy, drama, dance, and magic to tell the story of a person who believes she’s found the love of her life, but in an unexpected turn of destiny, she has to confront rejection for the first time in her life. <I can’t believe that someone could have reached an age old enough to fall in love but never faced rejection. Her Mom never told her she couldn’t have a candy bar?> Cost: $7.00, $5.00 for students.

Titular –

Dancers celebrate the inauguration of air taxi service at the Mariscal La Mar Airport in Cuenca. (El Mercurio)

De cada 10, solo 3 tienen empleo pleno en el país (Out of 10, only 3 are fully employed in the country) – <It’s 1 am and I’m too tired to translate this article which is full of statistics about the number of people of an age to work, how many have full employment, and the number of jobs gained and lost.>

Las cifras alentadoras de Cuenca (Encouraging figures for Cuenca) – Cuenca has the highest rate for full employment in the country with 55.7%. Unemployment at 4.3% is close to the national average of 4.1%. The average salary is the highest of the cities analyzed with $533/mo. <Does that number explain why Ecuadorians think all gringos are rich? Just compare $533 with the minimum income needed to get a retirement visa.> Economist Rodrigo Mendieta said the robust economy is because Cuenca has a large industrial exporting sector, is active commercially, is a regional hub which moves with the economies of Cañar and Loja, and has promoted its tourism sector.

Cuenca –

‘Starbucks’ llegará en junio (‘Starbucks’ to arrive in June) – Starbucks is looking to expand its presence worldwide, and will be coming to Ecuador in junio. It currently has videos on its social network pages. The Peruvian company Delosi S.A. is a franchise operator with over 40 years of experience, and will bring the chain into Ecuador. <I wonder if they’ll buy Ecuadorian coffee, or get it from their current sources such as Brazil, Kenya or Tanzania?>

El servicio del ‘taxi aéreo’ tiene visión internacional (Air taxi service has international vision) – <More on Cuencana Airlines – see article below from martes> The airline has been operating since last diciembre making corporate flights from Cuenca to other airports. It expects to fly 40 hours a month from Cuenca to other corners of the country. Charter flights will be offered at $1,250 per hour regardless of the number of passengers with a maximum of 12 passengers. Tickets for the air taxi service will be sold at travel agencies and a sample round trip fare on the Cuenca-Guayaquil route will be about $160.00.

De El Mercurio del martes, 29/4 (3 articles):

Desgravación gradual para automotores (Gradual tax exemption for motor vehicles) – Chinese vehicles will experience a decrease in tariffs under the trade agreement. These will apply during a period of 15 to 20 years. The reduction will be 2.6% annually and will be applied starting el 1/5. Currently the tariff varies from 35-40%, and most vehicles will be exempt in 15 years. The complete exemption for SUV’s with 4×4 drive and pick ups with gas engines will be in 20 years. The impact of the trade agreement will depend on the marketing strategies of each dealership. <Does that mean the consumer might not see the savings? Why does that not surprise me.>

Cuencana Airlines presenta servicio de ‘taxi aéreo’, hoy (Cuencana Airlines introduces ‘air cab’ service, today) – At 9:45 today (martes), Cuencana Airlines officially launched <Are aircraft launched like boats? Did someone break a bottle of champagne over its nose or propeller?) its air taxi service from the Mariscal La Mar airport. The airline has authorization from the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC) and has 2 airplanes seating 6 and 9 passengers. Its office is inside the terminal and it can fly to those airports controlled by the DGAC according to demand. <So I wouldn’t recommend walking into their office waving a roll of big bills and asking them to fly you to some dirt strip somewhere on the border of Colombia.> Their main plane is a Cessna Grand Caravan <sounds like a big SUV> with a 9 passenger and 4.000 pound capacity. The plane can also be used for medical evacuations since it is versatile.

0.7% más de empleos para mujeres registran en un año (0.7% more jobs for women in a year) – The Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC) published the Statistical Employment Record in the Social Security which showed information about employment. It also has data about salaries of people affiliated with IESS by sector, economic activity, province, canton, sex and age ranges. In febrero of 2024, registered employment was at 3.2 million, representing 38.7% of the Economically Active Population. By sector, there were 2.2 million in the private sector, 0.6 million in the public sector, .4 million with farmers’ insurance, and 0.1 in domestic work. <I bet that’s way understated. For example, have all of you have enrolled your cleaning ladies in IESS?>

Nacional –

En De El Mercurio del martes, 29/4 (1 article):
En julio próximo se sabrá sentencia de Carlos Pólit (Carlos Polit’s sentence will be known in July) – Judge Kathleen Williams of the Florida Southern District has set el 18/7 for the reading of the sentence for ex-comptroller Carlos Pólit. Polít was found guilty on 6 charges related to money laundering, executed in the US. <So if he’d been a little less greedy and not received that last few million in the US he could have gotten away with the rest of it?> If the maximum sentences are given for each of the charges, the total could be 100 years in prison. He was investigated for receiving bribes in the Odebrecht and Seguros Sucre cases.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). If information is incorrect, it is the responsibility of El Mercurio. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.