1,000 Young Job Seekers Showed Up to Cuenca's Employment Fair — Here's What They Found
Cuenca Expat Staff
About 1,000 young people packed into Portal Artesanal on Monday for Cuenca's IV Youth Employment Fair — and most of them walked in carrying the same frustration.
"It's difficult to find employment. I've applied places asking for 2-3 years experience," said Janeth Santi, 30, a graduate in Financial Administration. It's the classic catch-22: you need experience to get hired, but you can't get experience without being hired first.
The Numbers
- 15 public and private companies set up at the fair
- Approximately 1,000 attendees (target age range: 18-45)
- Around 300 applications expected to be accepted
- The fair ran from 8:00 AM on May 5
The event was organized by Cuenca's Municipal Public Enterprise for Economic Development (EDEC), with Carolina Martínez, the Municipal Director of Social Development, helping coordinate.
The Bigger Picture
Ecuador's youth unemployment rate sits at 8.1% — nearly double the national average of 3.4%. That's a significant gap, and it explains why a thousand people showed up to a single job fair on a Monday morning.
Why Expats Should Pay Attention
If you employ domestic help, run a small business, or hire local contractors in Cuenca, this is context worth having. The local job market is tight for young people, and many are well-educated but struggling to break in. It also means there's a motivated workforce out there — the challenge is the experience gap, not the ambition gap.
Source: El Mercurio
