COSTA RICA NEWS – During the second quarter of this year the unemployment rate fell to nine percentage points, reported the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) – the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica. That figure represents 204,000 unemployed persons and represented a decrease compared to the same period of 2013.
According to INEC, men are the most affected when considering that 106,000 of the 2,473 985 living in the country (50.77 percent) were without work, for a 7.6 percent.
While 98,000 of the 2,398 181 (49.22 percent) women faced the same problem, which is a reduction from a 13 percent in the second quarter last year to 11.2 in the current period.
The INEC employment survey also showed a downward trend of female underemployment, which shifted from 17.3 to 15.8 percentage points in that period.
It also showed that nearly 149,000 residents of the urban area were out of work, while the other 55,000 from rural area expect to have an occupation soon.
Similarly, 11.8 percent of the economically active population working in this country is subject to more working hours than those allowed by law, the entity added.
Productive activities that concentrate the largest percentage of employed population are trade and repair, followed by services, education, health, agriculture, construction, livestock and fisheries.
Costa Rica ended 2013 in second place in the ranking of unemployment in Latin America, following Colombia, with more than eight percentage points in this indicator.
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica