Employment and wages

The evolution of labour markets in the Latin American and Caribbean countries during 2020 had particular characteristics in comparison with the labour market dynamics of previous crises. Traditionally, labour market dynamics in crises caused by economic factors tend to translate into increases in open unemployment and informality. In the current health-related crisis, by contrast, the adjustment most associated with massive job losses, mainly among informal workers, was the exit of a large proportion of the workforce from the labour market. In the second quarter of 2020, a sharp contraction in the employment rate (10.0 percentage points relative to the same period in 2019) was accompanied by a fall in the participation rate of 9.5 percentage points. This mitigated the impact of the fall in employment on the open unemployment rate, which increased by 2.6 percentage points year on year.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Decent Work and Economic Growth