May 2017 Financial News

ILO-ECLAC: Nine percent jobless in region

May 16, 2017

UNEMPLOYMENT in urban areas of Latin America and the Caribbean rose from 7.3 percent in 2015 to 8.9 percent last year and could reach 9.2 percent this year, said a statement issued yesterday by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to accompany a joint report by the ILO and the Economic Commission The joint report, Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), said last year’s rise in unemployment was the in two decades.

The statement said the region had seen two years of economic contraction, but is set to see a one percent growth this year.

However this modest figure suggests that weak labour market conditions will persist in 2017, particularly regarding job creation/salaried work.

“These labour trends give serious grounds for concern, given that employment is the master key to reducing the poverty and severe inequality that dog this region,” said the statement. “Efforts must therefore be redoubled to ‘promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’, as called for in Sustainable Development Goal 8.” Last year, 13 countries had a rise in urban unemployment, while eight had a decline or kept the same level as in 2015.

This was a contrast to 2015, when unemployment rose in eight countries and fell or held steady in 13 others.

“The report also recognizes an increase in self-employment which, above all in the context of weak salaried job creation, is characterized by low and unstable income.” This change implies a deterioration in the average quality of employment, which is also reflected in low or negative rates of employment growth and in smaller wage increases.

The statement said a deterioration in labour conditions tends to affect, above all, groups that are vulnerable, which includes immigrants, women and young people with low education levels. The statement noted a rise in intraregional migration, as emigration to other regions decelerates. The report estimated that 28.5 million people emigrated left their countries in the region in 2010, while 7.6 million people entered regional countries.

“In those places with heavy recent migratory flows, immigrants have lower average income than natives, suffer high levels of labour informality and have significantly lower social security coverage than employed natives, especially migrant women.

The statement said that in most countries studied – Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela – most working immigrants are from LAC. However for Brazil, Mexico and Panama there is a high presence of Asian immigrants, mainly from China and India.

The statement said ECLAC and the ILO view the report as showing a need for labour integration.

To this end the report also reviews policies that could help insert migrant workers in productive jobs and decent employment, and recent progress made on the international development agenda

Source:
SEAN DOUGLAS
Newsday
Tuesday May 16, 2017

http://www.newsday.co.tt/business/0,243707.html