How Northern Triangle Nations Compete to Attract Call Centers

Available in English and Spanish.

Given the rapid expansion of the BPO market, this Impunity Observer report examines the opportunities and challenges companies may encounter when outsourcing to the Northern Triangle. Key considerations for foreigners investing in BPO firms include tax regimes, the regulatory burden, legal certainty, and labor costs.

• The Northern Triangle offers highly competitive labor costs—ranging from US$365 per month in El Salvador to $530 per month in Honduras. The region also provides access to bilingual workforces that are amenable to training and attractive to US-based clients. Moreover, proximity to the United States ensures aligned time zones, faster response times, and easier logistics, making nearshoring a practical alternative to more distant outsourcing destinations.

• Dependence on remittances is one barometer of lacking domestic employment opportunities. That places Honduras, where remittances equate to 26.1 percent of gross domestic product, as the most in need of employment, followed by El Salvador at 24.1 percent.

• Guatemala and El Salvador offer clear legal frameworks and structured investor onboarding, via national registries and tax authorities, relevant to call-center establishment. Honduras offers high-quality infrastructure—privately owned but within a subsidized zone. However, Honduras suffers from legal uncertainty, exhibited acutely with the special zones (ZEDEs) debacle.