Labour lawyer, Ricardo Herrera, said that labour informality reaches 73% in the country, and the most affected are young people, who do not have the rights established by law.

“In Peru (labour informality) is 73%, and it is advancing among young people. The labour market only produces 153 thousand jobs per year, so young people get frustrated and cannot find a job”, he said.

“The youth employment bill is different than the Pulpin law, as it does not take away any labour rights from young people, but provides a tax incentive for employers to hire young workers. The incentive is that they do not have to pay for the healthcare contributions. It is an insufficient incentive to promote youth employment”, he says.

Meanwhile, Herrera considered that the project should broaden apprenticeships so that young people have real working experiences when they graduate from school. Regulatory frameworks should be adjusted to fit the needs of the market.

The scourge of labour informality is unacceptable in Peru.

It is necessary to implement different mechanisms that tackle undeclared work, informal labour, and promote different modes of formal labour that enable de access to the labour market, particularly among young people. Ratification of ILO Convention 181 would enable de collaboration between private and public employment services, both, in training skills based on demand and creating decent work.