Costa Rica

1.Series

Title:

Registered unemployment.

Starting year:

Not specified.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Departamento de Prospección de Empleo (Employment Prospecting Department).

Type of agency:

Public service under a national authority.

Name of the national authority:

Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (Ministry of Labour and Social Security).

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

Central area of the country.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

  • Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;
  • Assisting employers to find workers;
  • Other: surveys on migrant manpower; prospective surveys on employment; surveys to determine the manpower profiles in investment areas; "Programa Construyendo Oportunidades y Creciendo Juntas" (National development programme).

    Percentage of job-seekers seeking work through the agency:

    10%.

    3.The following information is registered about a person:

  • Name;
  • Sex;
  • Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);
  • Address of usual residence;
  • Date of birth;
  • Citizenship;
  • Nationality/ethnic group;
  • Educational/vocational attainment, with 11 categories distinguished. Links to ISCED have not been established;
  • Current/past activity status, with five categories distinguished;
  • Type of work (occupation) of past or present job with three categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established;
  • Type of work (occupation) of job sought, with three categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established;
  • Name and address of present or previous employer or work place;
  • Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, with 64 categories distinguished. Links to ISIC, rev.3 have not been established;
  • Previous registrations with the agency/service.

    4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Being without work (R) and (S);
  • Seeking work (first job; better job or second job) (R) and (S);
  • Availability for work (R) and (S);
  • Age (lower limit: 15 years; no upper age limit) (R) and (S);
  • Citizenship (R);
  • Being resident in the country (R) and (S);
  • Previously employed (R).

    5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Death (R) and (S);
  • Commencement of a (new) job (R) and (S);
  • Refusal of three suitable job offers (R) and (S).

    6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

    Statistics are based on registered offers by occupational groups, sex, work experience, level of education and age.

    7.Updating of the registers

    The registers are updated daily. They are kept active for six months then they are renewed.

    8.Unemployment rates

    Statistics from the registers are not used to obtain unemployment rates.

    9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

    Reference period:

    Half-year.

    Frequency of production:

    Not specified.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Occupation;
  • Industry;
  • Previous work experience.

    Form of publication:

    For internal use only.

    10.Methodological information about the statistics

    Form of release:

    On paper, for general audience.

    Agency responsible for the release:

    Departamento de Prospección de Empleo/Migraciones Laborales (Employment Prospecting Department/Labour Migrations).

    11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

    Comparisons have not been made with unemployment statistics from other sources.

    12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

    There have been no major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics.