LABOR

Labor informality. At the beginning of September, the World Labor Organization published a technical note in which it states that Latin America and the Caribbean still show high unemployment rates and a strong predominance of informal occupations, due to the insufficient measures adopted to promote economic reactivation. In addition, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said the pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing gender inequalities in the labor force, setting women’s participation back by 10 years. Finally, at the XXI Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor of the OAS, the Declaration of Buenos Aires was signed and a Plan of Action to address the effects of COVID-19 on employment was discussed. It is hoped the region’s executive and legislative branches will take both studies into consideration to generate comprehensive policies to create more formal jobs and drive women’s participation.

The ILO notes that the region is experiencing an insufficient recovery of jobs, as well as an increase in labor informality. The note analyzes the different dynamics of informality registered as a result of the pandemic, which unlike other economic crises, informal occupations did not increase and did not offer help for those who lost formal jobs. The report also shows that the highest rate of informality is registered in productive sectors that were not considered essential. This is in addition to the measures implemented by governments to interrupt a salaried relationship.Along the same lines, the UNDP report notes that the employment situation of women has been adversely affected by the pandemic, as women have had to take on household care tasks or work in sectors that were severely affected by COVID-19. While the region had made improvements in labor market outcomes in recent decades, the pandemic has put some of that progress at risk.

Finally, the labor ministers of the Americas reviewed the impact of COVID-19 on employment, and discussed the future of work after the pandemic, the need to articulate labor, education, economic and health policies, and the strengthening of labor ministries to address emerging changes in the world of work, such as telework and the platform economy.

Next Steps

It is expected that these documents will be taken into consideration in the development of new comprehensive public policies in Latin America. It is expected that in the coming months, governments and congresses in the region will make progress in the design of regulatory frameworks that allow the development of new labor opportunities, as well as the implementation of measures to promote and increase the participation of women in the labor sphere.