Costa Rica has broken a long-held jobless rate streak that hovered around 6%, dropping to 4.8% last year, a United Nations agency reported.

Costa Rica has broken a long-held jobless rate streak that hovered around 6%, dropping to 4.8% last year, a United Nations agency reported.

Released Monday, the International Labour Organization's (ILO) 150-page regional “Labor Panorama” report crowned Costa Rica with the lowest unemployment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Costa Rica's (economic) performance stands out among Central American countries and the rest of Latin America,” said Leonardo Ferreira, employment specialist for ILO's San José-based Sub-Regional Office for Central America, Haiti, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

He went on to cite this country's recent success: 6.3% economic growth – above the Latin American average of 5.5%.

“This, of course, has had a positive effect on employment,” Ferreira said, calling Costa Rica's low joblessness number “an outstanding figure.”

Income among employed workers rose by 9.3% in 2007 and the majority – 73% – of posts held in 2007 were “quality” and “salary” jobs, he added, as opposed to freelance work or jobs with precarious conditions.

Perhaps more outstanding, this country's unemployment rate has dipped below Mexico's urban unemployment of 4.9%, which actually rose slightly from 4.6% in 2006.

Costa Rica's unemployment rate is also lower than that of the United States, 5% as of December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.N. employment agency's index covers up to September.

Costa Rica will miss the deadline for implementing a free-trade agreement with the United States, President Oscar Arias acknowledged yesterday.

In a speech Friday, Arias slammed the country's legislators for slowing down the process. “The Nobel Prize for slowness and filibustering should go to our Congress,” he told reporters.

Arias will ask other treaty members for more time to pass laws that would put Costa Rica in compliance with the Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which was negotiated by the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

The deadline for implementing the treaty is Feb. 29, two years after CAFTA went into effect for the second country, El Salvador. Lawmakers and business leaders here said the United States, as well as other CAFTA countries, will likely give Costa Rica more time.

Congress has passed just four of 11 bills required, in some form, to enter the treaty, which was ratified by referendum in October. On Monday, lawmakers approved the Budapest Treaty, which makes it easier to get international recognition for patents on inventions involving micro-organisms. The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) will now study the bill to make sure it does not violate the Constitution.

The other seven bills include highly controversial proposals to open the state monopolies on telecommunications and insurance. Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias said recently that lawmakers may need two or three months to pass the remaining bills.

Here's a hardy ornamental for the home garden that rates high on the eco-garden list. I'm referring to the ti plant (Cordyline terminalis), which is highly esteemed for its foliage with striking hues of red, yellow, green and blue.

Many nurseries in Costa Rica use the name ti, though it's also popularly called caña india. This name is used for many of the dracaenas, which are close relatives to the ti plant. However, ti plants have distinctive stems with clasping petioles that cling to the trunk of the plant. Borne on long panicles among the leaves, the pastel flowers look like small, violet and yellow lilies and have a pleasant fragrance and appearance. These plants have a tendency to form an upright shrub, though older specimens become gangly and bend toward the ground.

Ti plants are most often used to enhance a tropical landscaping effect. They are best set in foundation arrangements or large pots, as single standing specimens or under larger trees, as they are very shade-tolerant. In fact, their colors are enhanced in shady habitats.

Landscape Star: Ti plants are prized for their striking red and green foliage.

Ed Bernhardt | Tico Times

It's interesting to note that the ti plant originated in eastern Asia and the Polynesian Islands. It has deep cultural roots in Hawaii, where it's known as ki and is planted around homes to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits. The plant's leaves are also used for thatching, rain gear, clothing, wrapping for food and fodder for livestock, and the roots for food and beverages.

Renowned botanist Henry Pittier, who classified many of Costa Rica's plants in 1908, did not include the ti plant, which leads me to believe this plant was a rather late arrival to the country. Perhaps it arrived decades later with the banana companies.

Propagating ti plants is simple. Stem cuttings 10 to 20 centimeters long can be planted in pots or plastic nursery bags or even planted directly in the soil in their permanent sites. Kids enjoy the magic of starting plants from cuttings; you can use recycled plastic cups and gain a “three Rs” lesson all in one.

Ti plants do well in a wide range of soils, though rich, fertile loam encourages the best growth. They require no water in the dry season, nor chemical fertilizers or insecticides. All you need is compost, which is easily made at home from organic kitchen and yard waste. Compost can change hard, red clay soil into dark, soft brown soil, or sandy soil into a brown sandy loam.

Nurseries carry a wide variety of ti plants, but it's also fun to check around the neighborhood and beg a cutting or two from a neighbor – why, you can even trade at times. Who knows? It may even bring a little luck your way.

For more information on tropical gardening, visit www.thenewdawncenter.info or write thenewdawncenter@yahoo.com.