UNEMPLOYMENT IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN FALLS IN 2010

Lima, January 20- Latin America and the Caribbean experienced rapid employment recovery in 2010 to pre-crisis levels, but the challenge of improving the working conditions of millions of workers still remains, according to data provided by the ILO, which will hold its 17th American Regional Meeting in Chile next week with delegates from 35 countries of the continent.

“The fall in unemployment is good news and clearly demonstrates both the capacity of countries to tackle the crisis and the speed of recovery of their economies,” said the Director-General of the ILO, Juan Somavia. “The challenge today is the quality of jobs, in other words, making progress towards decent work”.

On Tuesday, 14 December, Mr Somavia will open the 17th American Regional Meeting of the ILO, which will be attended by labour ministers from across the region, government representatives and leaders of organizations of employers and workers of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as of the United States and Canada.

Regional Meetings are held at four-yearly intervals in the different regions of the world. The first Regional Meeting in the history of the ILO was in fact held in Chile, in 1936.

ILO estimates based on the most recent figures for the region indicate that the urban unemployment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean will be 7.4 per cent by the end of 2010, below the level of 8.1 per cent for 2009 -the year that was hardest hit by the crisis- and almost the same as the 2008 level of 7.3 per cent.

“If we look beyond the unemployment rate, we face the challenge of improving productivity and wages, reducing informality, extending social protection coverage and tackling inequalities”, added Mr Somavia. “Not only is it important to create more jobs, it is also important to ensure that these are quality jobs”.

The ILO highlighted that the anti-crisis policies adopted by the countries helped to ensure that the international crisis had a moderate impact on labour in the region. Mr Somavia said that, at a time of recovery, with economic growth estimated at above 5 per cent this year, the political will to keep the priority objective of generating more and better jobs was being put to the test.

“The reality is that economies may improve, but unless people have decent work and sufficient incomes, recovery will be neither real nor sustainable. A demand for labour is needed in order to fuel growth”, added the Director-General of the ILO. “In order to achieve this, it is necessary to promote small enterprises, which are the greatest generators of jobs”.

Data collected by the ILO’s Labour Analysis and Information System for Latin America and the Caribbean (SIALC) revealed that the Meeting in Chile will take place in a labour context in which, although the drop in urban unemployment benefited men and women alike, the latter continue to face a gender gap that is reflected in an unemployment rate that is 40 per cent higher.

Also highlighted was the fall in the urban youth unemployment rate from 17.4 to 16.3 per cent in a group of seven countries for which data are available. This is more than twice the overall unemployment rate and about three times that of adults.

Moreover, figures available in five countries for the second half of 2010 showed an increase in formal sector employment of 4.6 per cent. However, employment in informal sector business increased at a faster pace of 7.2 per cent.

“The discussions at this Regional Meeting will make it possible to meet the employment challenges and define the way in which the Americas can work together to design a fairer globalization through the region’s progress and development, forging more equitable and prosperous societies”, emphasized Mr Somavia.

During the Regional Meeting, there will be a series of plenary sessions with the participation of governments, employers and workers, as well as dialogues on issues such as social security in Latin America, the lessons learned from the crisis and South-South Cooperation. The ILO Global Wage Report 2010/11 will be presented on 15 December.

Uruguayan unemployment lowest in a decade

The unemployment rate in Uruguay in 2010 dropped to 7.3%, a fall from the previous year. The rate has been declining since 2005. Some 5.5% men were unemployed and 9.2% women during 2010. The rate has decreased because the number of jobs created increased.

More good news was that the number of youths seeking jobs dropped from 21.2% to 20.8% and the minimum salary increased 1.5% and average salary 3.4%.

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