Age structure, labour force and education in Costa Rica
Arodys Robles, Universidad de Costa Rica
Age structure, labor force and education in Costa Rica. This paper looks at the effect of changes in age structure on labor force and education in Costa Rica in order to assess whether the country is taking advantage of the window of opportunity opened up by a low dependency ratio. During the past decades Costa Rica has undergone changes in fertility and mortality that modified age structure and will continue to do so for at least two decades. In the paper I examine changes in labor force brought about by lower fertility and the effect of varying growth rates of school age population on education and productivity of the labor force. Results show that the country has not benefited from lower dependency ratio as East Asian countries did during past decades. On the contrary changes in age structure pose potential threats to the health and pension system of the country.
Presented in Poster Session 4