new companieS emphaSize on human capital

Companies consider availability of human capital before coming to PR

Migration could become a determining factor

Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

Companies considering the possibility of moving to Puerto Rico and establish their manufacturing operations are expressing a strong interest on the availability of a trained labor force, according to Invest PR’s interim executive director Ella Woger.

“The most critical factor in attracting, and retaining new businesses to Puerto Rico is the availability of a trained work force,” Woger said. “Several companies did praised Puerto Rico’s human capital in an event we sponsored for site selectors last March, and urged us to promote this ‘little jewel’ the island has to offer to the manufacturing sector,” she added.

She also mentioned that during the recent Bio International Conference, more than 100 Puerto Ricans with PhD degrees and living in the U.S. came to her and expressed their “excitement about all the opportunities” that could be developed in the island in the bioscience industry. “These are people that, given the opportunity, are willing to come back to Puerto Rico,”Woger said.

Questioned about the confirmed migration of almost 100,000 Puerto Ricans to the U.S. over the last 10 years, a significant number of them highly trained professionals, she said Invest PR is committed to promote the opportunities that are currently being created to bring them back.

Nevertheless, Woger pointed out the need to continue “strengthening our labor force” in order for it to be prepared to meet the demands of the future.

During a recent round table discussion on the importance of the manufacturing industry for Puerto Rico’s economic development, Woger explained Invest PR’s strategy in promoting the island as an investment destination is centered in showcasing the strong points and resources that make it attractive for new businesses to come and establish their operations. Woger did admit the island still faces specific challenges that need to be overcome in order to increase its competitiveness, but assured Invest PR is working with the government and the private sector on identifying possible solutions.

One of those challenges is the availability of industrial real estate to establish new operations.

“We do have several facilities available as part of our business promotion plan, but they are not infinite. So, we have to be creative to identify and/ or create other real estate alternatives we can promote,” Woger said. As one of those real estate alternatives, the executive director mentioned the Molecular Research Center (MRC), which could be used as “a landing pad” for emerging companies considering coming to Puerto Rico. Woger also mentioned OcyonBio, a partnership development and manufacturing organization whose facilities in Aguadilla may attract other companies. “We are looking for alternatives to what has been the traditional, standard [real estate] offering. We are trying to expand that offer in terms of facilities for tech and bioscience companies that could come to Puerto Rico,” she explained.

Regarding government and tax incentives for new manufacturing operations, Wogger explained that, while this issue is not one of the top considerations for companies looking into the possibility of establishing their businesses in Puerto Rico, the island needs to be competitive

In fact,

The island still faces specific challenges that need to be in this area. The executive director characterized overcome in order the tax incentives scenario in Puerto Rico as “very to increase its uncertain.” competitiveness Questioned on Puerto Rico’s economic as an investment subordination to American legislation and destination. regulations, such as the Jones Act, and the possibility of having to participate in the global minimum tax initiative, by virtue of the island’s relation with the U.S., Woger reiterated the uncertainty looming in this area. “There are several possible scenarios. Therefore, we are focusing on strengthening Puerto Rico’s other assets in order not to depend only on tax incentives. Certainly, incentives are important, but Puerto Rico’s general competitiveness needs to be strengthened because, if the global minimum tax is finally enacted, and all jurisdictions were to compete in a leveled playing field, we would need those other assets to effectively compete with them,” Woger said.

The most critical factor in attracting, and retaining new businesses to Puerto Rico is the availability of a trained work force.

Ella Woger, executive director Invest PR

In fact,

Ten percent of U.S. households in 2021 suffered food insecurity, meaning they were uncertain they could get enough food to feed themselves or their families

Biden’s strategy to end hunger in U.S. includes more benefits

Expanding Medicaid and Medicare access to obesity counseling and nutrition also considered

Colleen Long and Ashraf Khalil – The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is laying out its plan to meet an ambitious goal of ending hunger in the U.S. by 2030, including expanding monthly benefits that help low-income Americans buy food.

The administration, in a plan released Tuesday, is also seeking to increase healthy eating and physical activity so that fewer people are afflicted with diabetes, obesity, hypertension and other diet-related diseases. It said it would work to expand Medicaid and Medicare access to obesity counseling and nutrition. “The consequences of food insecurity and dietrelated diseases are significant, far reaching, and disproportionately impact historically underserved communities,” Biden wrote in a memo outlining the White House strategy. “Yet, food insecurity and diet-related diseases are largely preventable, if we prioritize the health of the nation.” Biden is hosting a conference this week on hunger, nutrition and health, the first by the White House since 1969. That conference, under President Richard Nixon, was a pivotal moment that influenced the U.S. food policy agenda for 50 years. It led to a greatly expanded food stamps program and gave rise to the Women, Infants and Children program, which serves half the babies born in the U.S. by providing women with parenting advice, breastfeeding support and food assistance.

Noreen Springstead, executive director of the anti-hunger organization WhyHunger, said the whole-of-government nature of the summit will hopefully produce greater alignment across the multiple federal agencies that deal with hunger issues — from the USDA and Health and Human Services to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That, ideally, would help Biden “set the North Star that nutritious food is a human right for all people.”

Springstead noted that a truly comprehensive approach to hunger and nutrition would have to include a major commitment from charities and philanthropic foundations. It would also likely include raising baseline salaries and employers paying their workers “wages that are livable so that they’re not standing in a food line.”

Over the years, cuts to federal programs coupled with stigmas over welfare and big changes to how food and farming systems are run have prompted declines in access to food. Biden, a Democrat, is hoping this week’s conference is similarly transformative. But the goal of Nixon, a Republican, also was “to put an end to hunger in America for all time.” And yet 10% of U.S. households in 2021 suffered food insecurity, meaning they were uncertain they could get enough food to feed themselves or their families because they lacked money or resources for food, according to the Food and Drug Administration. To succeed, Biden needs buy-in from the private sector and an increasingly partisan Congress. Some of the goals sound reminiscent of former first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to tackle childhood obesity and promote healthy eating. The conference also will highlight the need for access to better, healthier food and exercise.

…food insecurity and dietrelated diseases are largely preventable, if we prioritize the health of the nation.

-Joe Biden, U.S. president

In response to the Biden plan’s release, Partnership for a Healthy America hailed the emphasis on nutrition and health, saying that simply providing more food without prioritizing nutritional value would simply create different problems.

“We applaud the administration’s stated desire to shift from a mindset of treating diet-related diseases to preventing them from occurring in the first place,” the organization said in a statement. Biden said in his memo that over the past 50 years, “we have learned so much more about nutrition and the role that healthy eating plays in how our kids perform in the classroom and about nutrition and its linkages to disease prevention.”

Under the White House plan, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility would be expanded, children would get better access to free meals, and summer benefits would be extended to more schoolkids. Such changes would require congressional approval.

The other tenets of the strategy include the development of new food packaging to truth-check the “healthy” claims for some products, expanding SNAP incentives to select fruits and vegetables, providing more programs to encourage people to get outside and move, and boosting funding for research.