Social spending: Trends and challenges in policy financing

In 2016, low growth in the global economy (2.2%) for the eighth year in a row, global trade volume growth that was even lower and a moderate decline in commodity prices formed the backdrop to economic and social policymaking in the region’s countries. The region’s economies face major headwinds in these circumstances, as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) argued in its recent Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, and after recording negative growth in the aggregate in 2016 (estimated at -1.1%), they are expected to recover only modestly (1.1%) in 2017 (ECLAC, 2016b). The impact of this performance on the labour market has included a deterioration in the quality and quantity of jobs (urban unemployment in 2016 is estimated at 9%), especially in the South American countries. As analysed in other chapters of this edition of the Social Panorama of Latin America, high levels of inequality persist in the region.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Gender Equality

Reduced Inequalities

Sustainable Cities and Communities