Income inequality in Costa Rica according to the national household income and expenditure surveys of 2004 and 2013

Abstract

Labour income inequality declined in most of the Latin American countries in the early years of the twenty-first century. Costa Rica, however, is one of the few countries in which this measure has not fallen, but has indeed continued to rise. By comparing 2004 and 2013, dispersion by hours worked and wage differences between public and private sector workers are identified as the main causes of this rise in inequality.