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Este artículo presenta el primer índice de demanda de trabajo para Costa Rica, denominado “Índice de Avisos de Empleo” (IAE). Se calcula para el periodo 2010-2021 con información obtenida del sitio web de la Agencia Nacional de Empleo (ANE). El IAE muestra un comportamiento procíclico. Su estimación por actividad económica, provincia y grupos ocupa...
Este trabajo explora el efecto de la intención de continuar teletrabajando sobre la ambigüedad de rol y el agotamiento en el teletrabajo en una muestra de teletrabajadores costarricenses que se encontraban teletrabajando en confinamiento preventivo por el COVID-19. Los resultados muestran que una actitud positiva hacia el teletrabajo es capaz de me...
En el marco de la pandemia provocada por el virus responsable de la COVID-19, se presentan innumerables cambios a nivel global ante una realidad emergente; por lo tanto, la enseñanza superior asume el reto de transformar las metodologías tradicionales. Ante ello, se propone como objetivo de esta sistematización analizar las modificaciones metodológ...
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... Likewise, informality grew to 44% of the working population (INEC, 2023; Programa del Estado de la Nación (PEN), 2022). In response to these implications, the Costa Rican State took several social policy measures (Voorend and Alvarado, 2021). However, the social policy investments made during the pandemic have not meant structural change of Costa Rica's social policy regime. ...
... Concerning pensions, measures made it possible to opt for early pension payment advances and to withdraw special savings funds. Such facilities granted during the pandemic were aimed at maintaining the existing coverage and the services provided to members, rather than at growth of universal coverage (Voorend and Alvarado, 2021). All measures were discontinued, and currently, there are sustained public concerns over the financial strength of the pensions system, as well as possible imminent bankruptcy. ...
... Koen Voorend and Daniel Alvarado Abarca analyze the case of Costa Rica, one of the oldest and most advanced welfare states in the Global South, which has, however, come under fiscal pressure since the 1980s. Voorend and Alvarado Abarca initially viewed Costa Rica's swift and substantial social policy response to COVID-19 as an opportunity to consolidate the Costa Rican welfare state by 'strengthening universalism' (Voorend and Alvarado, 2021). In their Forum contribution, they argue that this hope was not fulfilled, as almost all of Costa Rica's social policy response measures to the pandemic were soon discontinued, including in healthcare, pensions, and social assistance. ...
Theoretically, one can distinguish at least three different scenarios of social policy development after the pandemic. In the first (optimistic) scenario, the pandemic results in genuine expansion or at least consolidation of the welfare state. Such expansion or consolidation would likely be rooted in increased political awareness of social needs and popular demands regarding social policy. In the second (neutral) scenario, the pandemic has only minimal social policy consequences over the long term and results in the maintenance of pre-pandemic welfare state institutions. In the third (pessimistic) scenario, the pandemic leads to actual retrenchment of the welfare state. Such retrenchment would likely be related to the economic repercussions of the pandemic and resulting budget cuts. The ways in which these scenarios materialize will of course vary across both countries and policy areas.
... Instead, a variety of different types of social policy responses can be identified. A few countries, including Costa Rica and Uruguay (Rossel and Gutiérrez, 2021;Voorend and Alvarado, 2021), already had well-developed and relatively universal welfare states, but introduced important smaller adjustments, such as Costa Rica's shortterm Protection Plan (Bono Proteger). A few other countries, with less universal welfare states, implemented broad social policy responses. ...
The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted manifold social policy responses all around the world. This article presents the findings of a meta-analysis of thirty-six in-depth country reports on early Covid-19 social policy responses in the Global South. The analysis shows that social policy responses during the early phase of the pandemic have been predominantly focused on expanding temporary and targeted benefits. In terms of policy areas, next to labour market and social assistance measures, the focus has also been on unconventional social policy instruments. The social policy responses of developing economies were often rudimentary, focusing on cash transfers and food relief, and heavily relied on external funding. In contrast, many emerging economies introduced a much broader array of social policies and were less reliant on external support.
... Instead, a variety of different types of social policy responses can be identified. A few countries, including Costa Rica and Uruguay (Rossel and Gutiérrez, 2021;Voorend and Alvarado, 2021), already had well-developed and relatively universal welfare states, but introduced important smaller adjustments, such as Costa Rica's shortterm Protection Plan (Bono Proteger). A few other countries, with less universal welfare states, implemented broad social policy responses. ...
Access to public health has been, is, and will be a necessary right for any person in the world, motivating the proposal of universalist approaches as the best way to provide this service. However, we know that universalism is limited, at best, when it concerns immigrants. In this article, we focus on Costa Rica's and Uruguay's health systems, generally acknowledged as Latin America's most universal, to argue that there are important barriers that limit immigrants' access to public health insurance and health care. Applying a model based on the work by Niedzwiecki and Voorend (2019) that allows us to disaggregate the barriers to access into legal, institutional, de facto, and agency barriers, our analysis shows that migration and social policy interact to create barriers of different magnitudes, often conditioning healthcare access on migratory status, formal employment, and/or purchasing power. These limitations to universal social protection create important vulnerabilities, not only for the immigrants involved, but also for the health systems, and therefore for public health, highlighting the limitations of universalism.
The social policy response of the Nicaraguan government to the Covid-19 pandemic has been negligible. No significant social policy measures were adopted to alleviate the negative effects that this health crisis has on the general population. No quarantine or state of emergency was declared. The wearing of face masks in public was not made mandatory. On the contrary, the government actively promoted mass gatherings of political supporters and state employees. It even went so far as to prohibit the medical personnel of public hospitals the use of masks. This was severally criticized by the Nicaraguan opposition, media outlets and international human rights organizations. It was seen as a strategy that favored the political and economic interests of the governing party over the lives of the Nicaraguan people. To explain why this course of action was taken, this report looks at the country’s current economic and political conditions. The extremely limited response to the Covid-19 pandemic is seen as the attempt of the ruling party to reduce, as much as possible, the laming or standstill of the Nicaraguan economy, in order to avoid its negative political repercussions.
