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Poverty and Unemployment Stable
The percentage of households living with poverty and unemployment in Costa Rica showed no significant changes in the time between July 2007 and July 2008, according to the results emerging from the Household Survey, published by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC by its initials in Spanish.)
The percentage of poor households increased from 16.7% of total households in which the measurement was conducted in July of 2007 to 17.7% in July 2008. The actual figure for 2008 could range between 16.4 and 19 percent.
There are some 220,000 families whose incomes are not enough to cover basic needs for food, housing, education and clothing, among others.
Unemployment rose from 4.6% to 4.9% and the actual figure may range between 4.5% and 5.4%.
Elizabeth Solano, coordinator of the area of Censuses and Surveys of the Institute, said that the changes were not statistically significant. However, she stressed that the result reflects a change in the downward trend that poverty and unemployment showed between 2004 and 2007.
Victor Hugo Cespedes, board vice president at INEC, explained that three factors contributed to the fact that poverty was not higher in Costa Rica (as some expected).
He stressed state aid to poor households, that the economic benefit of the previous two years was very strong and that the measurement does not include the second half of this year, during which time the economic situation worsened.
Cespedes said that 10% of households receive 28% of their income from state sources. Examples of this are grants from the Joint Institute for Social Aid (IMAS by its initials in Spanish), scholarships for education such as the Avancemos program and the non-contributory pension scheme, items to which the government has strengthened the resources.
He added that economic growth in Costa Rica in the last five years was high (6.5% on average, between 2003 and 2007).
“The strong growth in 2006 and 2007 in work and income does not disappear instantly. That base can be reduced if conditions do not improve,” he said.
This year the economy dropped to 3.3%, half the pace of growth in previous years, affecting the labor market and household income, which is reflected in the results of the Survey for 2008.
For example, the number of employed persons (those who have jobs) in 2008 increased by 1.7% compared to 2007, much less than the increase of 5.2% which was recorded in 2007, compared to 2006.
The real income (excluding the increase in the cost of living) of those working rose 2.1% in 2008 with respect to 2007, a sharp drop in respect to the rise of 9.3% between 2006 and 2007.
We must also consider that the survey was conducted in July 2008 and does not consider the second half of the year in which the country's economic conditions have deteriorated due to the strong international financial crisis.
For TicosLand.com Costa Rica, this does not represent the full reality of the country. As was already mentioned previously, the survey was conducted before the full impact of the world financial crisis. This kind of outcome is always relative.
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