ILO: One in 2 workers is informal in Latin America

COVID-19 completely shook the labor scene in Latin America and, after almost three years of pandemic, global factors such as the war between Ukraine and Russia, in addition to high inflation, further complicate the quality of life, according to the Organization Labor International (ILO).

Claudia Coenjaerts, regional director of the ILO for Latam and the Caribbean, warns that since 2020 the recovery of employment has been occupied between 40% and 80% by informality, until the third quarter of 2022.

“One in two people employed in the region is in informal conditions,” he summarized this Tuesday in the presentation of the ILO’s 2022 Labor Overview.

In this sense, the ILO details that the informality rate in Peru is the second highest in the region (+70%), surpassed only by Bolivia (+80%).

And, regarding gender, it is observed that labor informality is more pronounced in the female labor force (+75%) than in males (70%).

How to curb inequalities?

It is essential that policies that contribute to creating formal employment and raising the remuneration received by workers be reiterated, according to Coenjaerts.

For her part, Roxana Maurizio, ILO labor economist for the region, pointed out that the pandemic reflected how positive it was to implement economic support strategies for households (bonuses) in vulnerable situations.

“Strategies are needed in a coherent framework so that they can, jointly, give answers and important steps in the creation of formal jobs (…) which will go hand in hand with greater coverage of institutions such as the minimum wage and collective bargaining. The reinforcement of these will play an important role in recovery and challenges. There is a 50% that probably do not have access to these instruments because they are out of formality. This is the great mass of poor workers,” he said.