Chefs and Engineers With Better Opportunity for Work Than Doctors, Ministero de Trabajo Says
According to Ministro de Trabajo (Labour Minister) Fernando Trejos, chefs, computer engineers and medical assistants are the jobs and careers with the greatest opportunity in Costa Rica. The Minister said that there is a shortage of professionals in those three areas.

Trejos added that it is a mistake for parents to motivate to study careers that have a saturated labour market, like Odontology and medicine, where there currently is an over supply of professionals.

Parents don't motivate their children to study technical careers as they do not have the same prestige as say a doctor or believe that those are low paying jobs. The Minister said that in reality a chef can earn between us$3.000 and us$4.000 monthly, more than most professional earn in a saturated job market.

The unemployment rate for 2005 is at 6.6%. In the last year 123.000 people entered the work force for the first time, bringing the total number of employed to 1.776.903 from 1.653.879 in 2004, according to the numbers released by the Ministerio de Trabajo.

The figurs indicate that more women (62.706) than men joined the work force.

The Ministerio de Trabajo numbers coincide with those of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) that reported an increase of 130.000 new insured during the July 2004 to June 2005 period.