Women in Costa Rica continue to participate in the labor market at lower rates than men, according to the most recent statistics from the National Institute of Statistics and Census. The latest INEC data for the period covering November and December 2025 and January 2026 put female labor participation at 42.5 percent. This figure includes women who hold jobs and those who look for work.
Costa Rica has 2,137,405 women of working age, or 15 years and older. Just 846,115 of them have employment. That works out to 39.6 percent. Another 62,679 women remain unemployed but actively seek positions. The combined labor force for women totals 908,794.
Participation stood at 45 percent in the same period a year earlier. The country as a whole adds few new positions for either gender, as Central Bank President Roger Madrigal has stated. Men show stronger movement from unemployment into jobs. During 2025, 45.7 percent of unemployed men found work. The rate for women reached only 33.7 percent.
Women also exit the search process at higher rates. Thirty-five percent of unemployed women became inactive and stopped looking. The comparable share for men was 15.2 percent. Reports from the Central Bank draw attention to this difference.
Stereotypes in society sustain these divisions. The State of the Nation Program identifies views that see men as the primary breadwinners who leave home for work. Women, by contrast, take on the main duties of caring for children and supporting family members who are ill, have disabilities or reach old age.
Efforts to change these perceptions often fall to schools. The current problems in education make it hard for those institutions to promote equality, above all when homes do not emphasize the matter. The country underuses its female workforce compared with others. Costa Rica places near the bottom among OECD members in measures of women’s labor market involvement.
Several actions could help close the distance. These include urging men to share more child-rearing tasks, developing a countrywide system of dependable child care services, directing more women into scientific and technological studies, offering support for career advancement over time, and ending any company practices that punish workers for taking maternity leave.
