Q COSTARICA — Costa Rica, which celebrated Labor Day on May 1st, is one of the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with the fewest people working or actively seeking employment, as well as one of those with the highest levels of unemployment among young people and women.
The labor force participation rate—an indicator that measures the percentage of the working-age population (15 years and older) that is employed or actively seeking employment—remained stable in 18 OECD countries during the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to the same period of the previous year.
However, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, and Turkey showed the lowest participation rates, all below 70%.
This means that in these four countries, fewer people are working or actively seeking employment compared to the other OECD member nations.
In the case of Costa Rica, the data indicate that labor force participation was 61.3% during the fourth quarter of last year. Turkey followed, with a rate of 55.1%.
The four OECD nations with the highest labor force participation rates during that period were the Netherlands (82.3%), Japan (80.3%), Switzerland (79.7%), and Germany (77.4%).
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census’s Continuous Employment Survey, the labor force participation rate in Costa Rica was 54% in the three-month period ending in February of this year.
Youth Unemployment
Updated OECD data as of January 2026 also indicates that Costa Rica has the second-highest youth unemployment rate among OECD countries; only Chile has a higher rate.
In Costa Rica, 25.3% of young people cannot find work, despite actively seeking it. In Chile, the figure is 25.6%.
The countries with the lowest youth unemployment rates are Germany (6.3%), Korea (5.7%), Israel (3.8%), and Japan (3.5%).
The percentage of unemployed young people in Costa Rica is higher than the OECD average of 10.8%.
It affects women more.
Among unemployed young people, women are the most affected.
In most OECD countries, young women experienced higher unemployment rates, with particularly high levels in Chile (25.6%), Costa Rica (25.3%), Spain (24.4%), and Italy (23.1%).
The largest gender gaps—disadvantaging young women—are observed in Costa Rica, Colombia, Slovenia, and Turkey.
In Costa Rica, unemployment among women reaches 25.3%, while among men it is around 21%.
Inequality
The inequality of opportunity and low female labor force participation in Costa Rica have been a recurring concern expressed by the OECD in various studies.
In March 2025, the organization indicated that women’s participation in the country’s labor force is 27 percentage points lower than that of men and lags behind other OECD countries and regional peers.
It also noted that domestic care responsibilities limit women’s participation in the labor force, especially for those with lower incomes, whose participation rate is less than 40%.
Furthermore, only 7% of children between the ages of 0 and 2 are enrolled in early childhood education and care institutions.
These inequalities are reflected in women’s average income, which is lower than men’s, due to lower labor force participation and fewer hours of paid work.
“There is a significant imbalance in the amount of paid work hours, as women work, on average, eight hours less per week than men. Domestic and caregiving responsibilities place a disproportionately heavy burden on women, who dedicate almost three times more time to these tasks than men. This limits their opportunities to participate in the labor market or to work full-time,” the OECD warned in its study.
This limitation affects women of all income levels, but especially those with low incomes: nearly 80% indicate that domestic responsibilities constitute a barrier to accessing the labor market.
This situation particularly affects mothers, whose employment rate of 48% is considerably lower than that recorded in other OECD countries (72%).
According to the OECD, improving women’s access to the Costa Rican labor market would increase their households’ disposable income, reduce the risk of falling into poverty, and expand their economic opportunities.