Immigrants in the country experience greater inequality in Costa Rican society despite playing a transcendental role in Costa Rica’s economy, according to the study “How immigrants contribute to the Costa Rican economy” prepared by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Development Center of the OECD.
Immigrants have lower levels of education, which is reflected in their jobs and their labor income,”
says the report presented on Monday morning by the authorities of international organizations and the director of Migration Raquel Vargas.
The study highlights the importance of reducing inequality gaps since
insufficient integration of immigrants can damage social cohesion and limit their contribution to the development of societies.”
The report notes that the largest number of immigrants work in construction, domestic services, hotels, restaurants, and agriculture. In addition, it was quantified that 51.8% of immigrants are women and the majority inclined to live in Alajuela and San José.
These were the aspects analyzed, according to the study:
– Labor markets: immigrants seem to be well integrated into the labor force.
– Economic growth: immigrants contribute positively to economic growth. They are overrepresented in low productivity sectors.
– Public finances: public spending on immigrants was greater than the contributions of this population to the national budget. However, the study revealed that 60% of immigrants are kept in an informal market, so most of them do not contribute to social security.
Their lower tax contribution is due to the differences between taxes on goods and services and contributions to social security. Public spending was similar for immigrants and locals,”
concluded the report.