QCOSTARICA – The unemployment rate in Costa Rica registered a new drop and stands at 10.6%.

This figure, from the most recent Continuous Employment Survey published by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) for the first quarter of this year, represents 249,000 people looking for work in the country.

In January unemployment stood at 11.6%, in February at 11.7%, in March 11.8%, and in April it fell to 11%.

Does the drop in unemployment mean that people found work?

Braulio Villegas, Coordinador de la Encuesta Continua de Empleo, the INEC spokesperson, explained that what was evidenced was that there are fewer people participating in the labor market.

The INEC did not expand on the reasons or causes for fewer people, estimated at some 139,000, who stopped looking for work during the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2022.