Here is a cool article showing that texting is becoming ubiquitous across both wealthy and developing countries: Global Texting Rampant, Generates Billions In U.S. Revs. Today in the United States, with the rise in the use of social media, texting has begun to feel like an antiquated feature of our mobile phones. It turns out, that although social networking is extremely popular in wealthier nations, people from developing countries still rely heavily on texting. The above article quotes that approximately 75% of cell phone owners text and that texting is the most common in two of the world’s poorest nations: Indonesia and Kenya.

In wealthier markets, texting is beginning to face heated competition against internet-based messaging alternatives. In fact, Juniper Research has forecasted that global revenue from texting will peak in 2011. It seems to me that although texting may begin to decline in usage in more mature markets, there is still such great untapped potential in developing countries that the use of texting still has room to grow.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of mobile phones in emerging markets.

Mobile Phone Growth Trends across the World

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out this great short film made by the Praekelt Foundation describing the amazing growth in computer and mobile technology that is allowing our world to get connected. Although the video is focused on Africa, it is clear that decreasing costs and increasing penetration of mobile technology is transforming lives, businesses, and communities across all of the emerging markets. The video states that “in Africa, the mobile phone is the #1 way to get online.” This doesn’t come as big surprise since 66 to 80 percent of internet users in emerging markets don’t have access to a computer at home!

According to the Praekelt Foundation, if the current growth rates persist, every single person living in Africa will own a phone by 2020. This statement is backed up by Ulf Ewaldsson, the head of mobile infrastructure for Ericsson, who says global mobile penetration will reach 100 percent by 2016.[1] And with current growth trends, nearly half of the mobile phones in use will be smartphones.[2] These are some pretty incredible statistics! We are living in an ever-more connected world, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon.

Brazilian economy continues to charge ahead despite dearth of skilled workers

State of the Brazilian Labor Market

As the world looks to emerging markets to find new growth opportunities, Brazil has shone forth as a rising star. Brazil’s GDP stood at approximately $2.1 trillion in 2010. The agriculture, industry, and services sectors contributed 6 percent, 28 percent, and 66 percent of Brazil’s GDP, respectively.[1] From 1996 until 2011, Brazil’s average annual GDP growth has been 3.26 percent, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.[2] As the economy has continued to grow steadily, there has been a decrease in unemployment across the country. From 2001 until 2010, Brazil’s unemployment rate averaged 9.95 percent; and in September of 2011, the unemployment rate stood at 6.0 percent.[3] One of the major drivers of this decrease in unemployment has been the growth of the Brazilian service sector. For the first ten months of 2011, the government registered net job creation of 2.24 million, slightly below the 2.74 million jobs registered in the same period of 2010.[4] Due to Brazil’s strong recovery from the global financial crisis, Brazil is experiencing job growth and talent shortages in many sectors.

A recent study by the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication (Brasscom) states that Brazil will need 750,000 IT professionals to keep pace with the increasing demand. This increasing demand for skilled workers cannot be filled by the low number of skilled graduates entering the workforce. According to Brasscom, the eight states analyzed by the association—São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Distrito Federal, Paraná, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Sul—will need 78,000 professionals in 2014, and only 33,000 students might graduate by that time.[5] As can be seen from the data, it is critical for Brazil to develop a more efficient and transparent job marketplace in order to effectively allocate its human capital throughout the economy to continue to deliver strong economic growth.

2009 was the year we put our heads down and got to work creating the service Assured Labor was intended to be. The ultimate service for recruiting mid-to-low wage workers in emerging markets using web and mobile technology.

Highlights from the last year include:

• The launch of our Latin American brand – EmpleoListo, to much fanfare in Central America.
  • You can take a look at http://www.empleolisto.com
  • You can see some of our recent Television appearances at http://www.empleolisto.com/media.jsp
• Over 10,000 candidates registered!
• An expanding team, now up to 9 full-time across three continents
• Partnering with Latin America’s largest wireless carrier, Claro, to bring EmpleoListo into the hands of thousands of users.
• New office space in Managua. And new office space in New York and Cambridge at Dogpatch Labs (http://www.dogpatchlabs.com)

As you can tell we’ve been busy. We’re going to have a lot more to announce over the coming months and for 2010 we’re going to do our best to keep you up to date.

Thanks for your continued support!

Best,
Dave and the Assured Labor team