Costa Rica Advances in Inclusion of People With Disabilities

Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado on Sunday signed two decrees that seek to guarantee people with disabilities' insertion in the labor market. 

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A National Council of People with Disabilities (CONAPDIS) survey showed that 56 percent of people in this social group were out of the labor force.

The decrees facilitate the identification, job offers, vacancies reservation, recruitment, and incorporation of people with disabilities in workplaces. 

The National Employment System's strategies must now include the "Inserta" program, which is a regional cooperation initiative promoting social inclusion through technologies, training, and employment managers.

Alvarado also called on the private business sector and NGOs to develop programs aimed to offer employment and decent work for this population.

"People with disabilities... have had to face this pandemic with more vulnerability generated due to the lack of employment, poverty, and difficulties in the use of technology," CONAPDIS Director Lizbeth Barrantes noted.

"The needs and realities of people with disabilities are diverse. Our commitment is to lay the public foundations to respond to that diversity," Labor and Social Security Minister Silvia Lara added.