By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., a company that produces technology for the treatment of heart diseases, announced the expansion in Costa Rica with an investment of more than $100 million and 500 new jobs by the end of 2020.

This investment will be dedicated to a new and more advanced plant located in the La Lima Free Zone* industrial park, in the province of Cartago.

This new plant, together with the existing one within the same industrial park, expands the firm's capacity to produce finished products, Edwards Lifesciences said.

"We work to strengthen the competitiveness of the country, our human capital and the conditions for companies that decide to grow in Costa Rica," said President Carlos Alvarado during the meeting to announce the expansion of the company. "More and more Costa Ricans are positioned as highly capable people in the life sciences sector, one of the most important for the country today, and I am proud that companies like Edwards see that potential. ”

In Costa Rica, the company develops cardiac implants for the treatment of patients in medical centers around the world.

Edwards Lifesciences arrived in Costa Rica in 2016, as an additional plant in its global operations network that has locations in the U.S. and Singapore

"The opening of this plant represents an important milestone for Edwards as we expand our global network of heart valves to care for patients around the planet," said Mike Mussallem, president and CEO of Edwards. "Working hand-in-hand with colleagues around the world, our talented team from Costa Rica develops faculties to support our long-term growth aspirations and meet the meticulous high-quality standards of sophisticated Edwards heart valve technologies.

As announced, Edwards Lifesciences said it expects to grow in Costa Rica until it reaches 1,100 employees by the end of 2020.

There are vacancies in operational, technical and administrative positions. The positions available correspond to the areas of facilities, engineering, human resources, finance, technical training, supply chain and logistics, quality, purchasing, microbiology and chemistry.

For operational positions, the requirements are the ninth year of the approved school, good motor and manual skills, as well as ease of following instructions.

Those interested in available positions should send an email to the recruitmentcrcr@edwards.com address with their information and curriculum vitae.

The jobs offered by the company will help to reduce the unemployment rate.

Regarding the unemployment rate in Costa Rica, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census, from January to August unemployment  was 11.9 percent. This is equivalent to 296,000 unemployed people.

Also, the percentage of people with informal employment was 44.9 percent. This is equivalent to 971,000 people with informal jobs, meaning that neither they nor their employers are  contributing to Social Security. Many work below the legal minimum wage. Informal employment includes street vendors, gardeners, individual trades people and domestic service workers, among others.







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What could the government do to attract more international companies to open operations in the country?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com 

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