ILO AIMS TO FORMALIZE INFORMAL LABOR IN LATIN AMERICA

Lima, June 12 (Xinhua)- Formalizing Latin America's informal labor is the main goal of the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2013, the regional ILO office headquartered in Lima, Peru, said in a statement.

The effort aims to contribute to the fight against inequality and to tackle the challenges of an underground labor market that has undergone a period of "highs and lows," according to the ILO.

"In the region, there is a clear correlation between informality and inequality," said ILO regional director Elizabeth Tinoco.

"When a large portion of the working population is in the informal economy, with low wages and few opportunities for savings, it perpetuates the cycles of poverty," explained Tinoco.

The informal sector is how "inequality is reproduced through the labor market, since millions of people are left without rights or protection," states an ILO report titled "Progress and Perspectives 2013," which was simultaneously presented at the ILO' s regional office and to regional delegates attending the 102nd International Labor Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The informal economy has additionally proven to have a greater risk of work-related accidents and ailments, a larger incidence of child labor and higher rates of age, gender and ethnic discrimination," adds the report.

Tinoco underscored the region's sustained economic growth and fall in unemployment, which hit a record low of 6.4 percent in 2012 that might dip even further to 6.2 percent in 2013.

"Formal employment has increased, as has social security coverage" in the region, said Tinoco.

It is estimated that 47 percent of the non-agricultural labor force works in the informal economy.

"We are talking of some 100 million people in a situation of informality that barely allows subsistence without any kind of social protection," said Tinoco.

The ILO maintains that formalizing the informal sector requires integral strategies in order to move forward, since "informality is a phenomenon caused by multiple interrelated factors that make it especially difficult to address”.

"It is necessary to face the causes (of the informal sector) and to alleviate some of its most negative consequences," adds the ILO report.

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