According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), Latin America is experiencing the impact of the economic slowdown.  The report 2015 Labour Overview for Latin America and the Caribbean states that for the first time in five years there is a growth in the number of unemployed people: 1.7 million new unemployed persons in the region, which results in a total number of 19 million unemployed.

“By the end of 2015, the regional average of the unemployment rate will be of 6.7%. This is the first significant increase in five years, and it is expected to keep on growing in 2016”, said José Manuel Salazar, ILO regional director for Latin America, during a press conference in Lima.

An even more disturbing fact is the labour market’s index show an increase of labour informality, a consequence of the drop of direct employment and registered employment. By 2013 this situation already affected 130 million people in the region.

The largest unemployment increases by the third quarter 2015 were in South America (between 6.4% and 6.7%, excluding Brazil). The situation of Brazil is even worse. There was a 1.5% increase of the unemployment rate, which went from 6.9% in 2014 to 8.4% in 2015.

Salazar defined the current period that Latin America is going through as a “slow-motion crisis”, given the effects of economic slowdown and the loss of dynamic growth. Furthermore, he pointed out that the labour situation mostly affects young people and women.

According to the report, the unemployment rate among Latin American youth is three times higher than among grown-ups and slightly superior than the rate observed during the past decade.

Considering this context, ILO regional director explained that “in Latin America we have not been capable of escaping the economic cycle of volatile international prices and the excessive dependence on the global economic dynamics”. For that reason, he urged countries to diversify their productive structures, pursue more efficiency and have a plan for development to create more and better jobs.

Source: El Pais