The College of Economic Sciences of Costa Rica (CCECR) makes an urgent call to address the condition of young people in the labor market, after the latest data from the Continuous Employment Survey of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), show that for the second consecutive quarter the youth population that is in the labor force decreased.
In total, 41,235 young people stopped working in the last semester. In relative terms, only 4 out of 10 young people are in the labor force, despite being willing to work.
For the economist from the College of Economic Sciences, Luis Vargas, another fact that causes concern is that only 29 out of every 100 young people are employed. The employment rate at the national level, although it is still low (56 out of every 100 people), practically doubles that of young people.
A third alarming indicator is the high rate of youth unemployment, which closed the second quarter of 2023 at 27.40%. In other words, the unemployment rate for young people is 2.85 times higher than the national unemployment rate and is 2.7 times higher than the youth unemployment rate in the OECD. In other words, while in the OECD 10 out of 100 young people are unemployed, in Costa Rica it is 27 out of 100.
Changing the lack of opportunities
“The College of Economic Sciences of Costa Rica has been expressing its concern for young people in the labor market, because these figures reflect that hundreds of young people face social exclusion and the lack of opportunities to have a prosperous future. To the extent that as a country we do not achieve that youth increase their human capital and have access to more and better jobs, we will continue fueling crime, lack of interest in political participation, poverty and inequality”, explained Vargas.
