Jobs in Panama

Hello Larissa0985,

Welcome to Expat-Blog..

Concerning your questions about jobs in Panama, I would suggest you to have a look at the section Guide- Work in Panama so that you can gather some information.

Best of luck in your future project..

Regards
Yuveshen

Hi. I live here in Panama city. One of the most attractive things about this city is the huge market.. there is a wide field of posibilities wether you want a job in an important company or if you want to work on your own. Your husband's career is indeed required here given the house construction industry which is growing a lot. The only key point you need to cconsider is to have all your work and residence permits done as soon as you get here; without them you just cant acess anything.

I live in Panama City, for reference I have a decent handyman and he charges $25 per basic job (fixing a leak, replacing a light fixture etc), $45 to hang a door and about $5.00 /m2 to paint the interior of an apartment plus materials. People may pay more or less but the quality of work here in general really needs to be supervised and organizing even simple small jobs can be a process. For larger jobs I have received quotes from a "builder" with the employer paying their staff around $20 per day.

If you are coming I would definitely focus on your Spanish. Even if he has his own business catering to the expat community he would probably not want to limit himself to the expat community alone and would need to source and purchase materials, work with apprentices etc with people who most likely don't speak English. It would also help if one or both of you had an understanding of the process of registering the business, paying taxes and municipal fees and general admin etc. Being able to follow up with accountants and lawyers and knowing the processes and that everything is done and lodged when it needs to be, as these processes also may need to be followed up frequently and can cause additional fines and interest if not handled properly or your accountant or lawyer did not inform you because you simply didn't know to ask.

I lived in Panama City for 6 months and found jobs for foreigners - even from Costa Rica, are difficult if not impossible to find.  This is why most people start their own business.  Since many Panamanians can do the type work your husband does I don't know if he could start that type of business but definatly look into it.  I want to move back but need to have income too.  For this reason I am forming a medical tourism business.