Costa Rica

Costa Rica
Costa Rica stands out in Latin America for traditionally having a low and stable rate of unemployment. The rate of unemployment was steadily reduced between 1982 and 1990, but since then has had two periods of growth (1993-96 and 2001-02). Unemployment rises and falls equally for both sexes, although unemployment for women is consistently more severe. It is important to note that unemployment for the 12-24 age group (14.2%) is triple that of the 25-40 age group (4.3%), indicating that job creation is not keeping pace with population growth. Approximately 17% of households live below the poverty line, although 45% of these households include at least one salaried worker. Recent research has demonstrated a significant link between poverty and informality. Poor households are linked to the informal economy and to seasonal agriculture. Income distribution was stable until 1996 when it began to worsen slightly. The richest quintile receives 49.5% of income while the poorest quintile receives 4.6%. Unionization rates have declined steadily since the end of the 1980s; between 1990 and 2002 it dropped from 15.2% of the labor force to 9.8%.

To read a detailed labor market analysis for Costa Rica, download one of the following:
Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] [size 303 kb]
Microsoft Word [.doc] [size 419 kb]
Para leer (en español) un análisis detallado de la situación laboral en Costa Rica, selecto uno de los reportes para transferencia directa:
Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] [size 313 kb]
Microsoft Word [.doc] [size 432 kb]

Source:
Universidad de Costa Rica
http://cu.ucr.ac.cr

Data posted August 18, 2004.

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