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The Costa Rican National Institute for Census and Statistics published Tuesday the country's new unemployment rate has reached 10.1 percent.
According to the new figures, corresponding to the first trimester of 2015, a 10.1 percent of Costa Ricans is unemployed. This represents a 0.3 percent increase in comparison with the first trimester of 2014, which stood at 9.8 percent.
The annual unemployment rate for 2014 was of 9.8 percent, and in 2013 the country registered a historic high in the last 30 years, at 10 percent.
Left-Wing Party Popularity Rises
Meanwhile the political landscape has also changed. A new survey released by CID-Gallup and Prensa Libre news site shows that the political panorama in the country is shifting.
Traditional parties which have governed the country – National Liberation Party (PLN), Social-Christian Party (PUSC) and the newly elected Citizens' Action party (PAC) – are loosing sympathizers to other parties.
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Notably, sympathy towards the Broad Front party (FA), the only left-wing political group represented in the Costa Rican parliament, has grown 1 percent.
In last years' presidential elections, FA became the third political force in the Central American nation, after a campaign marked by attempts of creating fear against the 'communist threat' represented by the young political organization.
The result came as a surprise, given that FA was a minority party with only one member in parliament before the elections.
Last week a poll released by the University of Costa Rica showed that President Luis Guillermo Solis' popularity was plummeting.
Almost 80 percent of the people surveyed claimed that they had not seen any changes after a year of Solis' presidency. The number is significant, given that a need for a change in government policy was widely debated during the elections, and became a promise made by all the presidential candidates.
Political parties are now targeting the upcoming municipal elections, to be held in February 2016.
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