Costa Rica Has Lowest Unemployment in Latin America
Written by Claire
A report released by the United Nation’s International Labor Organization (OIT) listed Costa Rica as having the lowest unemployment in all of Latin America and the Caribbean as of July 2007 at 4.8 percent. This was an impressive drop from a 6 percent unemployment rate in 2006.
Costa Rica News — New jobs brought to nation by Construction Boom
Mexico came in second with 4.9 percent, followed by Argentina with 7.1 percent, Panama with 7.7 percent, and Argentina with 9.2 percent. Colombia had the highest unemployment rate at 12 percent.
While women in Costa Rica saw an improvement, with a drop from 8.2 percent in 2006 to 6.8 percent unemployment in 2007, they continue to be at a disadvantage, making up 55 percent of the country’s unemployment. Even though women have an overall higher level of education than men, the average salary paid to women is 26 percent lower.
Workers between 15 and 24 years old are in a similar situation, representing 1/5 of the workforce and 44 percent of unemployment.
Unemployment among men in 2007 was 3.4 percent. Many of the new jobs came about thanks to the construction boom in the country. Other factors are a dynamic economy, increase in exportation, increase in foreign investment and increased consumption motivated by an overall 9.3 percent increase in salaries.
The report also noted that more than half of the new jobs generated in 2007 in the entire region are considered to be low-paying jobs such as mine workers, construction, factory workers, transportation and warehouse workers. Only three out of 10 new jobs were in high-paying industries.
About 1,400,000 people are unemployed throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, or 6.1 percent of the work force. Four out of every 10 youth and female workers do not receive social security coverage or pensions because they have jobs outside of the formal sector.
The report was put together by taking polls of households in each of the 18 countries.
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Filed under: Costa Rica News on January 30th, 2008
Emerson Engineering just announced they will open a research and development center in Costa Rica.
(Typo) In the post Argentina is mentioned twice with having an unemployment rate of 7.1 and 9.2
I think the first “Argentina” was supposed to be Chile!! sorry about that~