ILO: Informality hit both young people and women much more in Peru and in Latin America

—One of the main problems in Peru is informal employment. I show you a data scheme where they indicate that 1 out of every 2 employed people in the region is in informal conditions. What can you tell us?

—Indeed, 1 out of 2 people is in an informal situation. They are people whose employment relationship is not formally recognized, who do not have any type of protection (income guarantee, social protection, access to health services, etc.). They are people who live from “day to day”, with minimal and irregular income, which forces them to survive, many times, below the poverty line.

—And the labor informality rate is high for Peru. Employment is being generated, but it is of low quality. What do we do?

—Peru has made a significant effort to promote labor formality, but after the pandemic an increase in informality rates has continued. That is why it has reached approximately 78%, which means that 8 out of 10 Peruvians who work do so informally, with precarious income and without job protection, placing them in critical situations, as described could see during the pandemic.

—What are the fundamental characteristics of informal work?

—When we talk about informality we are talking about a very large area. We may be talking about informality within the formal economy, and what is required is a strong intervention by Sunafil to not only inform, but also to promote and achieve formalization in said sector. On the other hand, we have a very broad scope where there is an informality in the sectors of the informal economy, where there is no recognition of labor rights and where the State has little participation in the protection of said rights. One of the sectors of the population that also goes through the same situation of informality are paid domestic workers. It is not that there is no recognition by the legislation, because the law does recognize all their rights, but rather that there is a lack of information, difficulty in carrying it out, or a denial of rights.

—What factors complicate the quality of life of people and/or workers?

—There are several elements that are important to take into account. Indeed, we have a situation of changes in the needs of the labor market, changes that require people to have better skills training, and to have spaces where they are allowed to reinforce those skills that the labor market demands. Many times you have that kind of situation, especially in young people. On the other hand, the inflation situation affects a lot and Peru is one of the countries where inflation has not hit so much, but the effects are seen with the wage decline: wages do not rise at the same speed as prices. 8 out of 10 Peruvians do not have a fixed salary that allows them to schedule their expenses.

—What is informality like in women’s work?

—It is important to point out that, in general, informality has affected both young people and women much more in Peru and in the Latin American region; they are the most impacted. The pandemic was a contributing factor because it affected sectors that predominantly employ women and young people (tourism and commerce, for example) above all. Domestic workers were also affected. Many people were able to carry out their work functions from home, based on the restrictions of the pandemic, but it was for this reason that many women, who are domestic workers, lost their jobs.

—Under what conditions do domestic workers work in Peru?

—Informality in the domestic work category is higher than average: we have 92% informality among domestic workers versus 76% in the rest of the employed EAP. In addition, 51% of them earn less than the minimum wage, only 18% contribute to a pension system and only 17% are affiliated with social security. These are figures that worry us and that of course have to motivate us to action. Indeed, when we talk about paid work in the home, we are referring to a much broader sector – care – where women are found, above all. In the care sector, it can be seen that of the 5.5 million Peruvians who work here, only 25% do so for pay, which means that an average of 4 million Peruvians, especially women, work in unpaid care. If we talk specifically about paid domestic workers, which are approximately 360,000 according to available data (96% women), as we have seen in the initial figures, the situation is one of clear lack of protection in terms of rights. There is a law that Peru adopted in which the rights of these workers are equated to those of other workers in the private sector, but this still needs to be put into practice.

—But do you think that the labor authority in the country, through Sunafil, is doing its proper job to reverse the figures we have talked about?

—I think that at least three issues should be worked on. And this is what we have proposed and have been discussing with Sunafil and the Ministry of Labor. First, from one of the investigations that was carried out, we have been able to show that there is a general lack of knowledge about the existence of such rights. So the idea is how to provide more information to the people who need it, both for the person who works and for the person who hires. We know that there is a very important effort on the part of the Ministry and SUNAFIL in this task of disseminating rights. We are working hard on this scenario and we are trying to summon more people so that they understand that it is a joint effort, where we are all involved. Within the framework of the “Opening doors” project, which we implemented with the support of Canada ILO, we are promoting a campaign called “Sweep away from informality”, with the aim of demonstrating that informality does indeed exist in the sector, but encouraging people to use the tools we have, to sweep away and remove informality from the world of work. A second issue is that we understand that post-pandemic there was a change (not absolute, of course), in the way in which people were hired and the arrangements in the ways in which work is now done. Before, the figure of the “bed inside” was very common, but now people who work for hours or days have been promoted much more. And many times the registration systems, the formalization systems have not adapted to these changes and therefore there are difficulties in making the records. We want to accompany the government to advance beyond just the regulatory change, because -as I said before- there is already a regulatory framework that equates the rights of these workers. Now you have to think about how to make this effective. Many times this can be done by looking for practices that are happening in other countries in the region and that can be replicated: easy registration formulas that are working, that can be done over the phone or by digital means, and not necessarily through more formalities. complexes with various institutions. And, thirdly, we must address the supervisory incentive measures that Sunafil has to develop. We are also working with them to ensure effective supervision. The people who hire a domestic worker have to know that we are employers and that we have obligations. We have to know that we are not exempt from remote supervision or from being summoned before Sunafil to account for how we comply with the norm and how we are recognizing the rights that workers have.

—Do you think that the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights sets a precedent so that labor stability can return to Peru?

—The debate on job stability is an issue that has been taking place throughout the region. It is a dialogue that is taking place not only, as in this case, between the worker and the State as employer, but also with the private sector. All this debate also comes, I believe, from the reflection on the existence of contracting modalities and how they are being used. Many times we find ourselves with an abuse of the use of these modalities that, effectively, become a type of temporary contract in functions that belong to the very nature of a business. The temporary contract never had the purpose of violating the rights of workers, but rather it is given in order to respond to a higher demand for workers that the business sector has for an objective reason. But when these contracts are used indiscriminately, the situation becomes worrying.

—What does it mean to have a quality job?

—TTo have a decent job is to have a job where we can have the opportunities to choose where we work, where there are rights, social protection and space to engage in social dialogue.. I take this opportunity to make one last thought. The issue of the National Care System is being discussed in Congress, an issue that could benefit not only paid domestic workers, but all those 5.5 million Peruvians who work in care work, especially the 4 million They do it without receiving any remuneration. We are talking about millions of people to whom the State is proposing to recognize this work and its contribution to the economy, and is proposing to build a system that can help them. We trust that the Congress of the Republic is committed to guaranteeing better conditions for them, to ensure respect for their labor rights and, of course, to care for these millions of Peruvians who care for other Peruvians.