[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2089]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SUPPORTING THE CARIBBEAN AS ITS WORKFORCE BOOMS

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                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 9, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the article, 
``Caribbean Call Centers Booming,'' published in New York CARIB News on 
September 19, 2007. The piece notes that American corporations are 
increasingly setting up centers in the Caribbean, breathing new life 
into the region's workforce and diversifying its economy.
  A drop in communication costs has ushered in newfound competition, 
willing the area's island nations to extend tax incentives in search of 
business--and it's working. For those economies with the smallest 
populations, it's made a world of positive difference, injecting droves 
of new workers and reducing rampant unemployment.

                     Caribbean Call Centers Booming

       Castries.--In a global search for low-cost customer 
     service, AOL considered call centers in India and other 
     hotspots--then settled on the tiny island of St. Lucia.
       In choosing the Caribbean island, AOL, a unit of Time 
     Warner Inc., joined other U.S. companies that have made the 
     region a new global hub for call centers.
       Plunging communication costs, workers who relate easily to 
     American customers and the region's famed hospitality are 
     attracting American corporations, boosting the work force in 
     the ``nearshore'' service industry in the Caribbean.
       Jamaica is one of the leaders with about 14,000 employees 
     in the sector. In the Dominican Republic, 18,000 agents, many 
     of them bilingual, are handling calls in English and Spanish. 
     Call centers dedicated to customer service have also opened 
     in Barbados, Trinidad, and Dominica.
       According to Robert Goodwin, the AOL manager who chose a 
     call centre in St. Lucia, the islands all seem to be really 
     positive as opposed to the surly attitudes you have in 
     some of the other places. AOL still uses call centers in 
     India and elsewhere for technical support and other 
     services--taking advantage of that country's large numbers 
     of workers with technical and advanced degrees.
       But the Caribbean is becoming increasingly competitive in 
     the call centre industry, with island governments offering 
     tax and other incentives to lure companies to their shores.
       Jamaica, for example, granted call centers ``free zone'' 
     status that allows owners to repatriate 100 percent of their 
     earnings tax-free. The Caribbean has taken only a tiny share 
     of the market from still-hot India and the Philippines, but 
     the impact is huge on islands with tiny populations. In 
     Montego Bay, a resort area on Jamaica's north coast that 
     accounts for about half the island's call centre jobs, 
     developers have rapidly built thousands of concrete, single-
     family homes to accommodate the workers.
       The industry owes much of its success to a 
     telecommunications liberalization that began sweeping former 
     British colonies in the Caribbean about six years ago. As new 
     suppliers have challenged the monopoly of Britain-based Cable 
     & Wireless PLC, lower prices allowed the region to compete.
       The collections and call-centre firm KM2, which holds the 
     AOL contract in St. Lucia, has opened a site in Barbados and, 
     according to owner David Kreiss, the firm is looking to 
     expand again as new telecoms install fiber optic cable.
       The number of people working at Caribbean call centers has 
     increased from 11,300 in 2002 to a current total of 55,000, 
     with an annual economic impact of US$2.5 billion. Large 
     American companies including Verizon, AT&T, Delta Air Lines, 
     AIG and Nortel have used Caribbean call centers, while often 
     keeping operations in Asia or elsewhere. While much of the 
     profits go to U.S.-owned operators, the islands welcome the 
     business to diversify their economies and counter high 
     unemployment.

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