2013 Labour Overview. Latin America and the Caribbean.
Twenty years after the Labour Overview was first published, we analyze the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean today. We also take a retrospective look at two very distinct decades for the labour markets of the region and envision the immediate future with concern arising from some current features of the region’s economies and labour markets. The loss of economic dynamism affected the labour market in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2013, labour indicators reveal that advances made in previous years have stagnated.
Concrete challenges include formalizing informality, increasing social security coverage and incorporating the most vulnerable persons in the labour market. What is the magnitude of this challenge? It will be necessary to create at least 43.5 million new jobs over the next decade to consolidate the low unemployment rate achieved in the region in recent years and to prevent it from rising above 7%. To reduce informality from 47.7% to 42.8% over the next decade will require an average growth of at least 3.4%. Moreover, 84% of new jobs will have to be formal. The ILO’s 2013 Labour Overview is a call to attention on the need to intensify efforts for improving the quality of employment in Latin America and the Caribbean.