Abstract

SIBAJA-MOLINA, Johanna; PRADO-CALDERON, Jorge Esteban  and  VINDAS-GONZALEZ, Adriana. Analysis of labor demand for Psychology professionals in Costa Rica during the period 2012-2014. Rev. Costarric. Psic [online]. 2016, vol.35, n.1, pp.53-71. ISSN 1659-2913.  http://dx.doi.org/10.22544/rcps.v35i01.04.

The issue of working conditions and labor demand in the field of Psychology has been the subject of several inves tigations. In Costa Rica, the National Council of Rectors and other research groups have inquired into this issue. In this article we present the results of a documentary analysis aimed at exploring the latest features of labor demand for professionals in Psychology in Costa Rica (e.g., number of vacant posts per year and prerequisites). For this pur pose, 1558 vacant posts reported by the Psychology Department at the University of Costa Rica in the period 2012-2014 were analyzed. We found a decreasing trend in job offers, and a predominance of vacant posts in industrial and organizational areas (64.6%), in private companies (47.5%), and located in the province of San José (41.0%). Most vacant posts (63.5%) required between one and five years of experience, with three years being the most com mon prerequisite (21.1%). In about half of the vacant posts (45.6%) English language was a requisite. Some other important requirements were software (35.2%) or office software (27.7%) knowledge, membership in the Costa Rican College of Psychologists (16.0%), spreadsheet management (10.6%) and psychological testing management (7.4%). Finally, we present some of the most frequently requested requirements, segregated by area of Psychology in which the vacant post is located, and we conclude with some considerations on the results of this study.

Keywords : Labor market; Employment opportunities; Employment statistics; Employment status; Labor; Employment; Psychology; Costa Rica.

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