Employment
Expats frequently seek information on gaining employment here.
The biggest hurdles are ways foreigners can become legal residents with the right to work. That is a difficult accomplishment when so many Costa Ricans are seeking the same jobs. Work permits for foreigners usually are granted only for specialized jobs that Costa Ricans cannot perform.
Another hurdle is salary. Would-be expats frequently are astonished at the salaries paid here. The typical salary for a truck driver in Costa Rica is less than $10 a day.
Costa Rica closely controls salaries. While countries to the north have minimum wages, Costa Rica has a separate minimum wage for nearly every type of job. And the numbers keep changing, thanks to a continual devaluation of the colon.
Every six months the government negotiates salary increases with various employee unions. If the negotiations fail the president may issue a decree setting the new salaries in conjunction with the Consejo Nacional de Salarios.
Under the latest decree, blue collar workers in agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and a host of other areas must earn from about $8.45 to $11.64 daily, depending on qualifications.
Monthly, the legal minimums range from 117,014 colons a month for someone like a janitor, a messenger or an elevator operator to 266,202 colons for a university master’s degree holder. That’s from $253 to $576 .
Some other salaries:
Domestic servant:
about ($146) plus food per day.
University bachelor degree holder:
about ($480) per day.
Bartender:
about ($9.69) per day.
Bus driver:
about ($9.69) per day.
Tourist guide:
about ($9.69) per day.
Machine operator:
about ($9.69) per day.
Electrician or carpenter:
about ($9.69) per day.
Private accountant:
about ($423) per day.
Architectural draftsman:
about ($295) a month.
Secretary:
about ($295) a month.
General office worker:
about ($275) a month.
Gardener:
about ($9.69) per day.
The highest paid job title on the list is graduate journalist, which pays about $710 a month.
The Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social has many more job classifications and specific minimum salaries in its files.
Most professionals work for salaries established by their trade organizations. For example, lawyers are supposed to get 10 percent of the value of any contract they prepare.
Most companies try to pay around the legal minimum, although more enlightened ones reward good employees. Although the salaries seem low by North American standards, they are good for Latin America, and employees here have the benefit of free medical care, pensions and other benefits not fully reflected in the paycheck.
