Education is compulsory up to 9th grade and places a strong emphasis on computer skills and English skills since the early grades.To this respect, an official nationwide survey showed that more than 258,000 Costa Ricans could speak English well.
Educational Institutions
Two key factors have become critical to the country's educational strategy: science and technology. Costa Rica's previous and current administrations believe that technical training, along with innovation and technology transfer, are crucial factors to achieve higher levels of productivity and a better competitiveness level in the global economy.
The National Learning Institute (INA) offers free technical training in a wide variety of fields, and is able to provide tailor-made programs to meet specific manufacturing and service investors' needs. Several other technical schools and universities prepare professionals with the highest international standards. Even HarvardUniversity has had an extension in Costa Rica since 1964 through INCAE, to prepare middle and upper level managers. The America Economy Magazine considered INCAE as the best Latin American business school during 2003 and 2004.
Schools are allowed sufficient flexibility to pursue curriculums that fulfill the needs of a changing society, but are also monitored to ensure excellence and quality.As a result of this ample array of options, the country enjoys a large pool of engineers, business officers and other professionals.
As it was cited in Latin Trade (August 1998), Intel's Corporate Vice President Mike Splinter said the company chose Costa Rica over Brazil, Chile and Mexico because of its "excellent educational system."
Productivity and wages
Workers are considered very trainable and productive. Costa Rica's main comparative advantage for attracting high-tech investments is to provide sufficient qualified professional and technical personnel at competitive costs. In lower technology industries, although Costa Rica's wage rates are higher than many country competitors abroad, higher labor productivity and modern manufacturing techniques can often compensate for labor costs.
This highly educated, versatile and productive workforce is accessible at competitive rates that currently range from $1.8 to $4.11 (per-hour, fully loaded).
Labor Regulations
Labor unions only have a significant role for public sector workers. The main form of labor organization in private companies is the "Solidarity Association" that employers support through a credit union and other assistance services. Investors seem very satisfied with the operation of solidarity associations, and frequently mentioned that they tend to work with the company, not against it. The associations have not been confrontational in nature or used for negotiating wages. Some companies have a separate permanent council of employees, serving as a mechanism to bring up complaints and problems for solution.
The Costa Rican workforce is considered perhaps the most important attraction for foreign investors, as the population is highly literate and well educated. The government has long placed a high priority in investing in public education, which includes the university system as well as the technical and vocational training scheme. The abolishment of the armed forces in 1949 freed resources that have mostly been invested in free education and health services for the population, while a generous education expenditure ratio of more than 5% over GDP is currently maintained by law. As an reflect of these efforts, Costa Rica now has one of the highest Human Development Indexes among developing nations (0.834), and one of the highest literacy rates of the Americas (94.9%); in addition, the expected number of years of schooling has been calculated at 10, according to World Bank's World Development Indicators 2004.A nation that long ago realized the importance of education and which currently allocates more than 6% of its GDP to educational programs is indeed the best guarantee for a successful business environment.
