By: Staff Writer
January 10, 2025
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in their “Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean,” report said that the LAC had limited employment growth.
The report said: “There has been limited employment growth in the region, consistent with this low GDP growth. Employment creation in the region is projected to grow by 1.7 percent in 2024, the lowest level in the post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic period.
“Sectoral analysis shows that the number of employed persons in the industrial and services sectors grew by an estimated 2.7 percent and 2.0 percent in 2024, respectively, while employment in the agricultural sector contracted by 1.3 percent. In the industrial sector, employment growth was greatest in basic services —electricity, gas and water— which was up 5.4 percent in the first half of 2024, 1.2 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2023. Employment in the construction sector grew by 1.4 percent in the first half of 2024, up 1.3 percentage points from the year-earlier period, while employment in manufacturing increased by 1.1 percent in the first half of 2024, up 0.1 percentage points from the same period in 2023.”
The report also said: “Employment growth in the services sector, which accounts for more than 60 percent of regional employment, slowed by 0.8 percentage points, from 2.8 percent in 2023 to 2.0 percent in 2024. These estimates reflect the slowdown observed in the first half of 2024 in employment growth in activities such as commerce, restaurants and hotels (down by 0.1 percentage points), financial and business services (down 1.3 percentage points) and community, social and personal services (down 1.2 percentage points).
“After reaching record highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, average unemployment rates in the region have trended down, remaining below 7 percent since 2022. The projected unemployment rate for 2024 is 6.1 percent, down slightly from the 6.2 percent recorded in 2023.
“Most countries report declining rates of informal employment in 2024, and the average rate of informal employment in the region is estimated at 46.7 percent, down 0.4 percentage points compared to 2023 levels. Despite this slight reduction in informality, significant challenges remain regarding the formalization of employment in the region, which underlines the need to implement effective policies promoting more secure and stable working conditions.”