“The past two years have not been good for Latin America in terms of growth. Brazil’s influence was key, considering its huge size. Brazil is the region’s China”, explained Moazan Mahood, Director of the Research Department.

The employment outlook in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2017 are rather alarming, with an estimated unemployment increase of 0.3%, which is mostly due to the difficult conditions of the Brazilian labor market, according to a report developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

When assessing the employment trends and expectations for this year, the international body states that the unemployment rate for Latin America will be 8.4%, and the main responsible will be Brazil, which shall reach 12.4% (1% more than in 2016).

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazil contracted 3.3%, and the regional GDP (including the Caribbean), decreased 0.4% in 2016.

Commercial exchanges in this country also contracted during 2016, and expectations for this year are rather similar. A slight recovery is expected in 2018, “for that reason, we believe it has already hit rock bottom”, added the expert.

“These variables had a strong impact on the region. In addition, the number two economy, Mexico, has shown deterioration in terms of growth and employment”, continued Mahood.

In Mexico, the unemployment rate will be around 4% in 2017.

The most promising conditions can be found in Central America and the Caribbean. However, the crisis in Brazil is pulling the region down, particularly its neighbors, with whom it has more commercial relationships.

Another aspect that is disturbing ILO is the halt in the reduction of vulnerable employment forms in Latin America, which had shown good progress between 2009 and 2014.

Vulnerable employment includes self-employed workers (informal) and those who work in family context with no payments (mostly women).

Since the regional economic slowdown in 2015, the share of workers in vulnerable jobs has grown at a constant pace, going from 31% of the workforce in 2014 to 31.9% in 2016.

While there were 90.5 million workers in this situation in Latin America in 2014, it is expected that the number will grow to 93 million by 2018.