Job Fair A Success; Young With the Highest Unemployment Rate
Last Friday and Saturday, the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje (INA) was host to the first job fair held in Barrio Don Bosco, where 71 companies offered 2.000 jobs in various sectors.

On hand were 6.845 job seekers, the majority being between 18 and 35 years of age, the group with the highest unemployment rate in the country. At the job fair, only 1 in 3 were able to find a job, notwithstanding that this group also has the highest "English" skills.

The job fair demonstrated the problem of unemployment that is affecting the younger population, whose unemployment rate is 7.6%, almost twice the national unemployment rate. And there is no difference between men and women, both share unemployment equally.

Of those attending the job fair, 7.5% were university graduates, while 22% had attended but not completed university, while 31% had a high school diploma, 21% did not finish high school and 9% did not finish grade school.

The numbers also reveal that the majority of the job seekers were single and from San José, primarily from the southern "barrios", area like Alajuelita and Desemparados. 13% came from the Cartago province, 5.5% from Heredia and 17% live in Alajuela. No job seekers from Limon or Guanacaste were present at the two day event.

Ministro de Trabajo, Fernando Trejos, said that the results of how many people were hired during the job fair will be make known publicly later in the week. Many had to withstand long lines to submit their resumes or job applications.