Press releases

Formal work deficit affects 126 million Latin Americans. ILO proposes an Agenda for the Hemisphere to generate decent work

Issue to be discussed at the Sixteenth ILO American Regional Meeting

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Tuesday 2 May 2006 (ILO/06/14)

BRASILIA (ILO News) - Latin America faces a formal employment deficit of 126 million jobs, International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia said today, while presenting "An Agenda for the Hemisphere" which contains recommendations on how to generate decent work over the coming decade. The Agenda is to be discussed at the ILO's Sixteenth American Regional Meeting which opens in the Convention Centre here Wednesday.

"The creation of decent work is a political objective, because it has a direct impact on the fight against poverty, democratic governance and the security of the continent", Mr. Somavia said, adding that this had been established by the last Summit of the Americas held in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

The ILO American Regional Meeting (Note 1) gathers delegates representing governments, employers and workers from the Americas who will discuss major labour challenges facing the continent, including the proposals in the Agenda for the Hemisphere.

"We have to respond to our citizens' aspirations to decent work for all with specific measures, because that is what they express in every election and expect from democracy", Somavia argued.

In Latin America 23 million people face open unemployment and 103 million work in the informal sector, creating an employment deficit in the formal sector of 126 million jobs. This is more than half (53 per cent) of the 239 million people who make up the economically active population in the region.

The report submitted to the meeting, entitled Decent work in the Americas: An Agenda for the Hemisphere, 2006-2015 (Note 2), warns that this formal work deficit could increase to 158 million by 2015 unless the necessary steps are taken to generate more and better jobs.

The report says the Caribbean countries face the same challenge, adding that the employment situation was "particularly complex" because of the vulnerability of Caribbean economies, which "severely limits their capacity for economic and social development".

The proposed Agenda for the Hemisphere offers countries in the region a plan of action for 2006-15, along with general and specific policy recommendations including a set of concrete targets that can be adapted to the particular situation in individual countries.

One of the objectives proposed in the Agenda is to move towards a more dynamic and employment-rich growth of the economy, from which the labour markets are not at present benefiting as much as was expected.

At the same time, however, the document stresses that "we cannot simply depend on growth to generate employment for those most in need of it and to reduce extreme poverty in the region". Mr. Somavia argued that "the objective of creating decent work should be explicitly incorporated into national development strategies", including the generation of specific labour policies.

Fostering productivity and competitiveness of the countries in the region will require both legislation and a climate favouring investment and enterprise creation, the ILO said.

Mr. Somavia went on to stress the importance of social dialogue between governments, employers and workers as a key element in devising sustainable government policies that are in tune with realities in each country.

The Agenda submitted to the countries of the ILO lists four main challenges: ensuring that economic growth promotes employment for all; guaranteeing that labour rights are effectively upheld and respected; adopting new social protection mechanisms suited to current conditions; and using these procedures to combat social exclusion.

Other challenges identified by the Agenda for the Hemisphere include:

* Sustained annual growth of at least 5.5 per cent on average for the region is required to avoid a rise in informal employment and unemployment;
* Inequalities between the sexes persist: the rate of female unemployment is 40 per cent higher than male unemployment, and women earn 66 per cent of the monthly income earned by men. Measures are needed to close this gap faster;
* 1.3 million workers in the region are subjected to forced labour, 10.7 per cent of the world total. As we know the numbers now, it is time to fight this scourge urgently;
* Despite efforts of countries in the region, child labour remains a social scourge which has to be eliminated;
* About 57 million young people between 15 and 24 years of age currently work or want to work, of whom around 9.5 million are unemployed (accounting for 42 per cent of total unemployment in the region). Providing employment opportunities for youth is the starting point for reducing tensions and despair in the young generation; and,
* An estimated 20 million or more people in Latin America and the Caribbean live outside their country of birth, a trend that has direct impacts on the region's labour markets and the life of migrant workers in their host countries. The countries in the region have to find a unified response to this issue.
The ILO Director-General added that decent work must be at the heart of national employment strategies because of its impact on social cohesion, the stability of democratic institutions and security.

The ILO holds Regional Meetings in the Americas and other regions of the world every four years to tackle challenges and problems facing the world of work and review ILO's activities. The delegates will also receive a report on the activities of the ILO in the Americas during the past four years. The ILO is a tripartite organization whose meetings are attended by delegates of governments, employers and workers, all of whom have the right to vote.

To coincide with the Meeting, the second Global Report on Child Labour is scheduled to be launched in Brasilia on 4 May. On 6 May, also in Brasilia, a special event focusing on HIV/AIDS at the workplace will take place. The ILO currently chairs the UNAIDS Committee of Co-sponsoring Organizations.

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Note 1 - Sixteenth American Regional Meeting, Brasilia, 2-6 May 2006. Official web site: www.oitamericas2006.org

Note 2 - Decent work in the Americas: An Agenda for the Hemisphere, 2006-2015, Report of the Director-General, Sixteenth American Regional Meeting, Brasilia, May 2006.

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