Guayaquil job fair to offer 3,000 vacancies this Friday

Guayaquil is set to host a major job fair, "Encuentra Empleo Guayaquil," on Friday, August 21, 2026. Organized by the Ministry of Labor, the event will bring together over 80 companies and organizations, offering more than 3,000 job vacancies. The fair will run from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the main auditorium of the ITB Atarazana campus.

The initiative aims to directly link individuals seeking employment with companies that have open positions in the city. This comes at a time when Ecuador's national unemployment rate stood at 3.1% in May 2026, a decrease from 4.1% in May of the previous year. This figure reflects a dynamic labor market, with varying trends in employment, unemployment, and underemployment throughout the year.

Recent data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) provides a clearer picture of the Ecuadorian labor landscape. In January 2026, adequate employment accounted for 36.6% of the economically active population (PEA), with unemployment at 3.4% and underemployment at 21.4%. While there have been fluctuations, including a dip in adequate employment in March, May saw an increase to 36.6% with underemployment falling to 18.3% and unemployment holding steady at 3.1%.

Guayaquil's labor market shows distinct characteristics compared to the national average. During the first quarter of 2026, the city's adequate employment rate was 46.1%, significantly higher than the national rate of 35.7%. However, Guayaquil also experienced a higher underemployment rate of 22.6% compared to the national 18.4%. The city's unemployment rate was lower at 2.3%, while the national rate was 3.4% for the same period.

These statistics highlight two key dimensions of the labor market: unemployment, which measures those without work but actively seeking it, and adequate employment, which refers to employed individuals meeting certain income and working hour criteria. A reduction in unemployment does not automatically signify that all individuals entering the workforce are securing jobs that meet these adequate employment standards.