Unemployment in Costa Rica during the second trimester of 2018 reached 8.7%; during this period women unemployment reached 1.4% according to the information published by the Employment Survey of the Census and Statistics Institute (INEC).

The survey indicates that the number of people out of work reached approx 206,000 (109,000 women and 97,000 men). This number represents 8.7% of the active population and the percentage is slightly higher than the number for the same trimester of 2017 that reached 8.5%; but lower than the number for the first trimester of 2018 that closed in 10.6%.

According to INEC, the areas that saw an increase in the number of employees are construction with 48000 new people hired; manufacturing, which added 31,000 more people and transportation with 26.000 additional jobs.