Costa Rica’s Ministerio de Trabajo (Labour Ministry) reports that four out of every ten employers it has inspected pay their employees salaries below minimum wage.
The Ministra de Trabajo, Sandra Piszk, said that the inspections are part of the government’s “Campaña Nacional de Salarios Mínimo” (national campaign on minimum salaries).
Édgar Morales, secretary of the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados (ANEP) – one of Costa Rica’s largest workers union – says the problem is not new. “For years we have complained, but the situation is so critical that the government of Laura Chinchilla had no other option but to act,” said Morales.