NEWS
LATIN AMERICA
AND THE CARIBBEAN
2000 LABOUR OVERVIEW
Copyright © International Labour Organisation 2000
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Foreword
We are living through a period of economic recovery with A third factor is related to the behavior of the labour supply, a
high unemployment. After a year-long recession caused by usually neglected element when it comes to examining the immediate
the implementation of adjustment policies in the majority of the economic environment. The labour supply plays a decisive role
countries, Latin American economies began to make a comeback. towards determining the net effect on the unemployment rate, whose
Current estimates project 4.3% GDP growth for the year 2000, as evolution is hard to predict. This feature can be verified by
well as real wage gains (1.2% for industrial wages and 0.5% for comparing the different reactions of the labour supply to the
minimum wages) as a result of  prevailing a low and decreasing recovery process. In Chile, a dropping rate of participation helped
rate of inflation.  However, the unemployment rate will remain at a to reduce unemployment, in spite of a slight recovery of the rate of
level similar to last year’s 9%. The number of unemployed workers occupation; in Mexico, growing unemployment was reinforced by
throughout the region is being estimated at 19 million. Youth and a sustained labour supply. Conversely, increased employment in
women will continue to suffer most, and specially the former, whose Brazil and Colombia was neutralized by a growing rate of
present unemployment rate more than doubles the regional aver- participation that left unemployment untouched.
age.
Changes in the employment structure continue.  All four
All the countries reviewed managed to come out from the recession, processes identified in previous issues of the Labour Overview
albeit not at the same pace and most often lagging behind in terms are still valid. The structure of employment is undergoing a proc-
of unemployment reduction, with the sole exception of Mexico, ess of privatization –95 out each 100 new jobs are generated in
whose dropping unemployment rate is at 2.3%, the lowest in the the private sector. Tertiary, informality and precariousness of labour
region.  Mexico’s performance in this area was built upon fast are continuing too - 83 out of each 100 new jobs are generated in
economic expansion and a steady growth throughout the Asian the service sector, thus cutting down the contribution of good-
crisis. producing sectors to job creation. The share of the informal sector
in total employment climbs from 43% to 46%, contributing with 60
Although the economic recovery created expectations of improved out of each 100 new jobs. Lastly, 55 out of each 100 new waged
employment conditions , unemployment continues to resist jobs generated in the last decade lack social protection.
abatement. Three major factors help, among others, to explain
this phenomenon. The first one is a proven asymmetry of employ- The Labour Overview assesses the purchasing power of
ment in the economic cycle. The latest recession showed once wages by expressing minimum wages in kilograms of bread and
again that employment contracts faster than the GDP under these industrial wages in terms of the number of working months  re-
conditions and grows slower during the expansionary period.  As quired to buy a low-cost car.  On average, in the year 2000 a
a result, the product reaches pre-crisis levels faster than the un- minimum wage buys 5 kilograms of bread a day, against 3 kilo-
employment rate.  The grams a day in 1995. This level of purchasing power is still low but2000 Labour Overview shows such a
behavior in Brazil, Chile and Colombia during the recent crisis, as consistent with the expansion of minimum wages recorded in the
well as in Mexico, in the context of the “tequila” downturn. last five years.  The purchasing power of minimum wages varies
sharply among the various countries, going from 7 kilograms of
A second factor is tied to the way enterprises react to the adjustment bread a day (Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Panama) to 2 or 3
according to their size, particularly in a context where the public kilograms a day (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay).
sector stopped contributing to direct employment generation.
On the other hand, the average number of monthly industrial
Available information for Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Peru shows
wages required to buy a low-cost car increased from 32 to 35 in
that current labour law has provided large enterprises (more than
the same period. The purchasing power varies from country to
50 workers) with a high degree of flexibility to lay down workers
country: between 10 and 20 months (Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
during a recession and hiring them back in the upswing.
Panama and Uruguay) to 4 to 7 years (Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador
Enterprises adjust quickly, but workers’ vulnerability soars.
and Honduras). In developed countries such as Korea, Spain,
However, the net effect is highly influenced by the behavior of
the United States, France or Italy, a third of the number of months
small and medium-sized enterprises (PYMES), which varies from
required by the group commanding the highest purchasing power
one country to the other. Overall, in the face of recession, PYMES
resist employment reduction and seek financing instead, while in Latin America, is enough to buy a low-cost car.
their capacity to generate employment during the process of
recovery will depend on their ability to deal successfully with their A thorough reading of the six previous issues of this report indi-
newly acquired debt. cates that the region’s labour performance in the last
decade was an erratic one, albeit in a slightly improving are low-quality ones. Although wage differentials are dropping,
context. Ongoing processes of economic recovery were inter- youths earn wages are only 44% of those earned by adults.
rupted by successive crisis, such as the 1995 “tequila” downturn Education has shown high profitability; those who completed
in Mexico and the 1998-99 “Asian” crisis.  Between 1990 and secondary education earn wages that are 46% over the wages of
2000, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama those who have only completed basic education. The second
and Peru improved their labour performance in terms of changes special subject discussed in this issue is the cost of hiring women.
to the level and quality of employment, wages and productivity. Research conducted by the ILO concluded that the additional cost
Other three countries remained constant:  Bolivia, Brazil and is low in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico  -from 0.2% of the
Uruguay, while the labour situation deteriorated in Argentina, workers’ wages  (Mexico) to 1.9% (Chile).  Public policies make
Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela. an important contribution by socializing the cost of maternity leave
through social security schemes and preventing this right from
An evaluation of the relative labour performance of the countries becoming a discriminatory factor.
under review, the balance for the decade highlights a constant
positioning of Chile and Mexico at the most favorable level, as well The third special subject addresses occupational conditions in
as the steady presence of Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela, terms of accident insurance coverage and the number of working
although at lower and declining levels.  Favorable but generally hours.  Coverage ranges from over 60% of the workers in Chile,
small changes took place in Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama to very low percentages (10% to 20%)
Honduras, Panama and Peru. On the other hand, this assessment in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay. On the other
shows small losses in Brazil and bigger ones in Colombia, hand, the number of hours of work in the region has remained at
Ecuador and Paraguay. approximately 1,800 per year, subject to legal regulations enforcing
a 44-48 hours of work per week. Latin American countries seem
To summarize, the region still cannot overcome the 1980s to follow labour patterns prevailing in the United States and Japan.
“foreign debt crisis”.  The moderate and unstable recovery Peruvians work over 2,000 hours a year, against 1.900 hours in
that took place in the 1990s was not enough to compensate for the Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Nicaragua. In this
deterioration experienced in 1985. A comparison between the region, no country gets close to Europe’s average of 1,500 hours
labour performance of those countries in 1985 and 2000, shows a year.
that five are in better shape (Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador
and Uruguay), six are faring worse  (Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, This is the labour situation at the beginning of the new century. We
Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela), while four (Colombia, Honduras, are coming out from the latest crisis, but the region’s structural
Mexico and Panama) remain at the same level of labour progress problems have not gone away. Latin America and the Caribbean
recorded in the mid-80s. are still seeking to adapt to new ways in the economic area, and
therefore also in the labour field. Thus, it is imperative to conciliate
Nevertheless, the outlook for the year 2001 is more competitiveness and economic efficiency with demands over so-
encouraging. GDP growth projections for 2001 point at a cial protection, safety and enforcement of labour and civil rights.
persistent process of economic recovery in all the countries under
review.  A regional 4.2% rate of growth that would drive the
unemployment rate down to 8.1% has been projected. The
exception is Mexico, where growth would decrease, although still
at rates over the regional average, and the unemployment rate
would continue to be the lowest in the region.  Notwithstanding the Víctor E. Tokman
expected drop in unemployment, several countries will show over ILO Regional Director for the Americas
two-digit rates: Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador will register
between 14% and 17.5%; Uruguay and Venezuela between
12% and 13%. Only Brazil, Chile and Mexico will remain below
the regional average (8.1%).
The 2000 Labour Overview also features information about
three special subjects. The first one deals with the employment
situation endured by youths throughout the last decade. This so-
cial group shows the highest and fastest growing rates of
unemployment, while job opportunities stagnate and available jobs
Economic recovery meets a sluggish labour
market response
• Unemployment doesn’t give ground. The 8.9% average rate for the first three quarters of 2000 is very similar to the rate
registered in the same period of  1999 (9.0%).
• Unemployment decrease continues to oppose a stiff resistance, even in the face of a strong economic recovery that shows a
4.3% rate of GDP growth throughout the first semester, and also in the absence of a significant increase in the wage push.
• Industrial and minimum wages increased by 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively, sustained by growing productivity  (1.3%) and
lower inflation  (from 8.4% in the first semester of 1999 to 7.9% in the same period of 2000).
• During the first three quarters of 2000, the Latin American labour market performed below expectations, although economic
activity was growing at a faster pace than expected. Such a phenomenon may be attributed to the fact that, in spite of the
reaction of the labour demand in response to GDP growth, a similar expansion of the labour supply also takes place   (3.2%
supply and 3.0% demand). This will determine whether the unemployment rate will remain constant.
• Average unemployment also remains constant for men, women and youths. The latter’s unemployment rate is 2.1 times the
total rate.
3
• In this general picture, Mexico is the sole exception on account of a clear tendency towards unemployment reduction, coupled
with fast growing real wages, thanks to a solid process of economic recovery.
• The labour performance of the countries under review during the last decade was erratic, although in a context of slight
improvement.  Between 1990 and 2000, seven countries showed some improvement to their labour performance, measured
as a composite index including changes to the level and quality of employment, wages and productivity. They were Chile, Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru. Other three showed no change (Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay), while
the labour situation deteriorated in Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay and Venezuela.
• After an evaluation of the relative labour performance of the countries under review, the balance for the decade highlights a
constant positioning of Chile and Mexico at the most favorable level, as well as the steady presence of Argentina, Uruguay and
Venezuela, although at lower and declining levels.  Favorable but generally small changes took place in Bolivia, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Peru. On the other hand, this assessment shows small losses in Brazil and bigger ones
in Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay.
• ILO projections indicate that 4.3% GDP growth would result in a 9.0% unemployment rate for the year 2000. Thanks to a faster
than expected growth, employment prospects will improve starting in the second semester of the year and during 2001. A
steady process of economic recovery would allow for a drop in unemployment in the area of one percentage point. In the year
2001, GDP is expected to reach 4.2%, coupled with an 8.1% unemployment rate. Thus, the unemployment rate would
achieve its 1997 pre-crisis level only two and a half years later.
Economic recovery and the
labour market
The ongoing economic recovery has failed to generate signifi- The incidence of the Economically Active Population (EAP) of
cant improvements in the labour market. Unemployment these countries on the total represents 95%, which is also the
persists, since the rates of participation and employment size of their contribution to the regional GDP (Statistical Annex).
had similar reactions to last years’ rate of economic growth.
The quality of employment continues to deteriorate in the The unemployment rate of the above mentioned countries
face of growing informality and lack of social protection. reached 8.9% (weighted average). While similar to the figure
Nevertheless, increased productivity and lower rates of registered by this group of countries in the same period of 1999
inflation have improved the purchasing power of both industrial (9.0%), that rate is 1.7 percentage points higher than the level
and minimum wages. observed during the pre-crisis period (1997 average).
Urban unemployment The evolution of unemployment varies from country to
country. A comparison between the first three quarters of
The region’s current unemployment rate is similar to that of 2000 and the same period of 1999 shows a slight drop of the
1999 (9%), in spite of the fact that economic growth remained unemployment in seven countries: Brazil (7.7% to 7.5%),
in the frame of the global economic recovery since the second Chile (10.1% to 9.2%), Costa Rica (6.2% to 5.2%), Ecuador
half of 1999 and throughout the year 2000. (15.0% to 14.9%), El Salvador (8% to 7%), Mexico (2.6%
to 2.3%) and Venezuela (15.3% to 14.6%). On the other
Information about unemployment for 2000 (up to the third hand, the unemployment rate increased in Argentina ( 14.5%
42
quarter) is available for the following twelve  (12) countries: to 15.4%), Colombia (19.8% to 20.4%), Panama ( 13.0% to
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El 13.3%), Peru (8.7% to 10.3%) and Uruguay ( 11.9% to
Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. 13.3%).
FIGURE 1
 LATIN AMERICA,  GPD GROWTH AND
RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT, 1998 - 2000
(percentages)
Source: ILO, based on official data.
Unemployment reduction did not come about as fast as was decreased (0.3 percentage points) and the female
expected in late 1999. ILO employment projections for this unemployment grew (0.3 percentage points), the rest of the
group of countries estimated that the unemployment rate for countries experienced changes to male and female
2000 (8.5%) would be lower than last years’.  However, this unemployment in the same direction, although with varying
reduction does not appear among figures on average unem- intensity (Statistical Annex).  Male and female unemployment
ployment for the first three quarters of 2000, since these show rates increased in Argentina (0.7 and 1.0 percentage points,
stagnation with respect to the same period of 1999, even respectively), Colombia (0.1 and 1.0 percentage points,
when a 4.3% rate of GDP growth currently forecasted for respectively), Peru (2.4 and 1.6 percentage points,
2000 is higher than the 3.6% projected early this year by respectively) and Uruguay (0.9 and 1.3 percentage points,
different specialized agencies (see section devoted to em- respectively). On the other hand, male and female
ployment and product projections). unemployment rates dropped in Chile (0.6 and 0.3 percentage
points, respectively), Costa Rica (0.5 and 1.3 percentage
Meanwhile, from a medium-term perspective, the level of points, respectively), El Salvador (1.4 and 1.2 percentage
unemployment in the countries reviewed during the last year points, respectively) and Mexico (0.2 and 0.2 percentage
and a half continues to be high and significantly higher than points, respectively).
the level of 6.4% registered in the 1990-1997 period. This
was the result of a sharp deterioration of the terms of exchange
brought about by the effects of macroeconomic adjustment Youth unemployment
processes implemented after the Asian and Russian crisis,
depreciation of commodities such as fish meal, copper, meat In most of the countries for which information is available,
and coffee, and appreciation of oil prices. youth unemployment tends to grow even in the context of the
ongoing economic recovery.  However, the patterns of youth 53
Thus, in the first three quarters of the year 2000, the unemployment vary from one country to the other, as reflected
unemployment rate climbed over two digits in seven countries: in its evolution in the first semester of 1999 and the same
Argentina (15.4%), Colombia (20.4%), Ecuador (14.9%), period of 2000: Argentina (35.9% to 45.0%), Brazil (grows
Panama (13.3%), Peru (10.3%), Uruguay (13.3%) and from 14.5% to 14.7% in the 18 to 24 age group), Colombia
Venezuela (14.6%); was higher than the regional average in (37.9% to 41.3% in the 12 to 17 age group and 35.7% to
Chile (9.2%), but stayed below it in Brazil (7.5%), Costa Rica 35.8% in the 18 to 24 age group), Peru (14.2% to 18.2% in
(5.2%), El Salvador (7%) and Mexico (2.3%). The case of the 14 to 24 age group), Uruguay (27.1% to 30.5%) and
Mexico is particularly different from the rest of the region, as Venezuela (26.6% to 28.0%). The indicator behaves in
a result of the positive effects of a strong US economy and different ways according to the age group in Chile (drops in
the appreciation of oil, the country’s main export commodity. the 15 to 19 age group from 27.6% to 26.0% and grows from
19.8% to 20.1% in the 20 to 24 age group), but declines in
Mexico (4.5% to 4.2% in the 20 to 24 age group) (Statistical
Unemployment by sex Annex).
Along with the urban average unemployment rate, the rates The ratio between the rate of youth unemployment and the
of unemployment for men and women remained constant unemployment rate is an average of 2.1, but it is hardly
between 1999 and 2000. homogeneous region wide: Argentina (2.9 times), Colombia
(2.7 times) and Uruguay (2.3 times) are over the average,
Except for Venezuela, where the male unemployment rate while Brazil (1.8 times), Chile (1.3 times), Mexico (1.9
soared  (13.6% to 14.0%), while the female rate dropped times), Peru (1.8 times) and Venezuela (1.9 times) are below
(17.1% to 15.9%), and Brazil, where the male unemployment the average.
Economic activity, employment and 0.7%), Brazil  (2.1% to 3.8%), Chile (0.9% to 5.8%),
unemployment Colombia (-2.3% to 1.5%), Ecuador (-8.2% to 0.5%), Mexico
(4.8% to 7.8%), Peru (2.0% to 6.0%), Uruguay (-5.6% to
The process of economic recovery underway in the region 1.0%) and Venezuela (-5.2% to 1.5%).
since the last semester of 1999 has failed to reduce
unemployment (Box 1). GDP growth climbed from 0.4% in In spite of an acceleration of 5.2 percentage points among the
1999 to 4.4% in the first semester of 2000. Besides,  a strong average rates of the Latin American GDP during the first
shift took place in the first semester of 2000 with respect to the semester of  1999 (-0.8%) and 2000 (4.4%) the
same period of 1999, when the level of economic activity unemployment rate remained stable (around 9.0% for each
decreased by 0.8%. semester).
In this context, it is significant to highlight  that the average This outcome was due to a similar reaction of labour supply
GDP growth observed during the first semester of 2000 is and employment to GDP growth.  In fact, the closeness of the
higher than the 3.6% projected at the beginning of the year by elasticities of both labour supply and employment with respect
several international organizations and specialized financial to production growth explains to a great extent the reason
agencies. This is mainly the result of the high rates of growth why the average unemployment rate remained constant
currently enjoyed by the economies of Mexico  (7.8%), Peru (Figure 1).
(6.0%) and Chile (5.8%), besides the positive performance
of the Brazilian economy (3.8%), which represents close to As far as the labour supply is concerned, the average rate of
37% of the regional product. participation in the countries where information is available
varied from one country to the other. The rate of participation
On the other hand, the annualized expansion of the GDP increased in Brazil (1.0%), Colombia (1.1%), Ecuador
picks up speed in all the countries under review during the (0.4%) and  Mexico (0.6%), while the indicator remained
26 first semester of 2000, with respect to the beginning of the constant for Uruguay  and decreased in Argentina (-0.2%),
process of economic recovery of the region that took place Chile (-0.5%), Costa Rica (-1.4%), El Salvador (-1.4%),
during the second semester of 1999: Argentina (-2.0% to Panama (-0.1%) and Venezuela (-0.8%).
Box 1
EMPLOYMENT RECOVERS SLOWER THAN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
In the 1990s, Latin America went through two important eco- East Asian countries and Russia. In the case of Mexico, the
nomic adjustments. Both showed that  employment drops faster analysis covers the adjustment process triggered by the
than the labour supply under recessionary conditions, driving devaluation of the peso in late 1994, up to the beginning of
up significantly the rates of unemployment. Yet the unemploy- 1997.
ment rate drops slowly during the expansionary phase. This is
why recovering to pre-crisis levels takes longer for unemploy- Evolution of the product during the adjustment proc-
ment than for economic cycle. ess. Brazil’s GDP suffered a –3.3% reduction during a period
of almost two years, while Chile’s product dropped –1.7% in a
The countries reviewed are Brazil, Chile, Colombia and year and a half.  The Colombian recession lasted for seven
Mexico. For the former three, the analysis covers the 1998- quarters, causing a –4.3% contraction of the product, while
2000 period (starting in 1997 for Brazil), when the region was Mexico experienced the highest reduction of GDP
affected by currency devaluations implemented in the South- (-7.1%) during 1995. Mexico and Chile eventually recovered
to their pre-crisis GDP levels, although at different stages of crisis unemployment rate climbed to 20.5% (or a 1.4 times
their adjustment processes. It took Mexico five quarters to increase), while in Mexico grew by 2.1 times (3.6% to 7.4%,
reach the target, while Chile made it after two quarters.  In the respectively.)
third quarter of the year 2000, Brazil and Colombia have not
been able to regain their pre-crisis GDP levels, in spite of the Employment-output elasticity is greater in the
fact that their economies are already in the expansionary recessionary phase than in the expansionary period.
phase of the economic cycle. This would explain the slow recovery of the unemployment
rates recorded in the pre-crisis period. Brazil, Chile and
Fast growth of unemployment as a result of a Colombia show 0.4, 0.8 and 0.8 employment-product elasticity,
declining GDP.  Just before the crisis, Brazil had a 5.9% respectively, in the recessionary phase, as opposed to 0.2,
unemployment rate. Into the recession, this country’s highest 0.3 and 0.0 employment-output elasticity, respectively, in the
unemployment rate reached 7.9% (or 1.3 times over the expansionary period. Conversely, Mexico is the sole country
pre-crisis rate).  In Chile, those rates registered 5.3% and where this elasticity is greater in the expansionary phase
11.4%  (or a 2.2 times increase). In Colombia, a 14.4% pre- (0.6) than during the recession (0.0).
73
The unemployment cycle is longer than the eco- and the working age population–WAP) grew in Chile,
nomic  cycle.  In Mexico, recovering to the pre-crisis Colombia and Mexico. At the same time, a falling employment
level of the unemployment rate took 12 quarters (3 years), rate explains the fast increase of unemployment in these
or 3 quarters more than those required to regain the initial countries throughout the period.  Brazil showed the same
product level.  The other countries failed to regain pre-crisis outcome, but unlike the other three countries, it was caused
unemployment levels in spite of the long time elapsed since by a falling rate of participation in the recessionary face,
the beginning of their adjustment processes: Brazil (13 quar- along with an even greater contraction of the rate of
ters), Chile (9 quarters) and Colombia (9 quarters). In the occupation.
third quarter of 2000, these countries’ rates of unemploy-
ment were substantially higher than in the pre-crisis period, Mexico’s economic recovery took place hand in hand with
as reflected in the following figures for Brazil (7.3%), Chile the expansion of the rate of employment, and since the
(10.7%) and Colombia (20.5%) labour supply remained stable, the unemployment rate
dropped.   In Brazil, the economic expansion came along
After all, delays to recover from unemployment do with a recovery of the levels of participation. Consequently,
not depend fundamentally on the intensity of the effect on unemployment was positive but moderate. In
economic growth, but rather on the evolution of the other end, Chile fails to recover the rate of occupation,
the labour supply and employment generation. but a falling labour supply drives a moderate reduction of
the unemployment rate. Meanwhile, Colombia shows a
During the economic recession, the rate of participation (or stable situation in terms of the labour supply and occupation,
ratio between the economically active population – EAP- and therefore also with regard to the unemployment rate.
82
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
PARTICIPATION AND OCCUPATION RATES
BRAZIL. 1997-2000
Source: ILO, based on official country data
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
PARTICIPATION AND OCCUPATION RATES
CHILE. 1998-2000
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
PARTICIPATION AND OCCUPATION RATES
COLOMBIA. 1998-2000
9
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
PARTICIPATION AND OCCUPATION RATES
MEXICO. 1995-1996
Source: ILO, based on official country data
As much as with the rate of participation, the behavior of the rate associated with slow employment growth by examining
of occupation, which is the main indicator of the level of employ- the role of the private sector in the period 1999-2000.  A
ment, varied widely (Statistical Annex).  Brazil (0.9%), first conclusion would indicate that in the present
Colombia (0.3%), Ecuador (0.5%), Mexico (0.7%) and Panama structural context, employment generation falls almost
(0.1%) registered increases, while Argentina  (-0.6%), Chile on the shoulders of private entrepreneurs, while the
(-0.2%), Costa Rica (-0.8%), El Salvador (-0.8%), Uruguay public sector plays a subsidiary role in this regard. It
(-0.8%) and Venezuela (-0.8%) experienced reductions. follows then that the performance of the private sector in
this area depends on its behavior at the enterprise level,
considering that this sector represents 64.8% of total
The contribution of private sector private employment.
enterprises to employment generation: The
leadership of large enterprises during the Any analysis of the evolution of employment in the present
recovery process economic environment must take into account the
heterogeneous structure of the private sector, which
Employment is taking long to respond to economic recovery, includes a segment made up of small enterprises  (up
but little is known about the causes of this phenomenon. to 50 workers), constituted by a group of microenterprises
Therefore, an effort is required to uncover the factors (up to 5 workers) and small enterprises (6 to 50 workers)
FIGURE 2
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
EMPLOYMENT VARIATIONS BY THE SIZE OF ENTERPRISES
MEXICO. 1995-1996
120
CHILE. 1999-2000
Source: ILO, based on official country data.
FIGURE 2 (continued)
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
EMPLOYMENT VARIATIONS BY THE SIZE OF ENTERPRISES
PERU. 1999-2000 a/
ARGENTINA. 1999-2000 a/
11
Source: ILO, based on official country data.
a/ In Argentina and Peru, the segment constituted by small enterprises (up to 49 workers) includes only enterprises with 10 to 49 workers.
characterized by low levels of productivity and wages, as well During the recessionary phase, employment in large enterprises
as by poor social protection and unionization. A segment quickly declines in all the countries  (with employment-output
constituted by large enterprises  (more than 50 workers) that elasticity over 1; in other words, employment contracts faster
use modern technology pays adequate wages, provides than the product). Meanwhile, small enterprises show a different
adequate social protection to workers and concentrates behavior in response to the reduction of the levels of activity
most unionized workers. These enterprises generate a (Figure 2).  In Argentina and Chile, the number of jobs in
significant part of the product, in spite of their low share in small enterprises drops even more quickly than employment
the country’s total employment. in large enterprises. Employment also decreases in Peru,
although at a smaller rate, while employment  in Mexico’s small
The performance of private enterprises in the area of enterprises continued to grow steadily throughout the recession.
employment generation is examined here in the context of the
adjustment processes undergone by three countries (Argentina, Under recessionary conditions, employment growth is
Chile and Peru) in the 1999-2000 period; for reference purposes, driven by the large enterprises, while the small ones display
the case of Mexico in the 1995-1997 period is covered too. a heterogeneous behavior.
In Chile and Mexico, the expansion of employment 100 new jobs were created by the pr ivate sector.
in the post-adjustment period was determined by the Formal employment cont inued to contract .  In th is
behavior of large enterprises (Figure 2). However, what segment, the share of the publ ic sector in total for-
sets both countries apart in this area are the different mal employment went down 2.8 percentage points
development patterns followed by their respective and pr ivate employment  ga ined 2.8 percentage
small enterprises. While employment in Mexican small points. Medium-size and large enterprises  continue
enterprises registered a moderate and constant  increase, t o  b e  t h e  m o s t  i m p o r t a n t  s o u r c e s  o f  f o r m a l
Chilean small enterprises showed a poor capacity to employment.
create new jobs.  As a result, total employment grew in
Mexico at a pace that drove unemployment down in a Secondly, the structure of employment continues to shift
short period of time. Meanwhile, total occupation growth towards tertiary activities. Eighty-three (83) out of each
in Chile is still not enough to lead a substantial drop in 100 new jobs created during the decade were provided by
the unemployment rate (Box 1). the service sector.  The importance of good-generating
sectors (manufacturing industry, mining, power and water
No steady recovery of employment is still in sight in works and construction) in non-farm employment diminished
Peru in response to the economic recovery. Yet large in almost all countries throughout the 1990s, except for
enterprises are leading total employment variations, Panama and Bolivia, where the share of those sectors
followed closely by the small enterprises. Therefore, increased. In the rest of the countries, the decline of good-
employment growth in private enterprises has been generating sectors varied widely in the same period.
unsteady. This situation did not translate into higher Argentina (-2.6 percentage points), Brazil (-4.5), Chile
unemployment thanks to the anticyclic behavior of the (-3.3), Colombia (-3.3), Costa Rica (-7.4 ), Ecuador (-5.8),
informal sector.
12 Uruguay (-6.9), and Venezuela (-4.9), went through the most
significant changes in this area.
Available figures for Argentina show that economic
recovery notwithstanding, employment continues to fall,
Service-generating sectors (commerce, transport,
albeit at a slower pace, and employment reduction in
f inancial enterprises and municipal and personal
large enterprises is lower than in the small ones.
services) grew region wide, specially in less modern
Therefore, employment continues to decrease and the
sub sectors, such as the latter.  By the end of the decade,
unemployment rate remains high.
this sub sector took the lead at the regional level, creating
one out of three jobs.  Although with a smaller but growing
Sectoral composition and quality of participation, commerce became the second most
employment important sector, employing one out of four occupied
workers.
Medium-term trends indicate that the increase in em-
ployment registered during the decade went along with a Thirdly, the steady deepening of informality further
series of changes in both the sectoral composition and deteriorates the quality of employment. Available figures
the quality of employment, that were driven by the proc- show informali ty growing from 42.8% en 1990 to
ess of privatization of the employment structure towards 46.4% of total employment in 1999.  In other words, 60
tertiary activities, informality and  employment precar- out of each 100 new jobs were created in the decade
iousness. in the informal sector (Statistical Annex).  Significantly,
1 out of each 3 new informal jobs were created by
Firstly, the process of privatization deepened during microenterprises, which constitute the most modern
the decade, taking into account that 95 out of each segment of the informal sector.
The most important segment of the informal sector is consti- Real wage patterns
tuted by independent workers who by the end of the 1990s
represent 23.9% of the occupied work force (1.7 percentage The purchasing power of real wages improves as a result of
points more than in 1990); followed by the microenterprises, growing productivity and a declining rate of inflation during the
which represent 15.8%  of the occupied work force  (1.1 per- period (Box 2).
centage points more than in 1990) and the domestic service,
representing 6.7% of the occupied work force. The average industrial wage in the countries for which infor-
mation is available (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico,
Informality grew evenly between men and women, although Peru and Uruguay) shows a 1.2% increase in real terms
informal employment represents half of the work force of the between the first three quarters of the current year and the
latter against men’s 43.9%. The same behavior was apparent same period of 1999 (Statistical Annex), which is similar to the
at the level of occupational sub segments, but with different 1.3% average productivity increase registered during the pe-
intensity.  Informality among men increased mostly within the riod (Figure 3).
segment of independent workers (21.6% to 24.3%) and among
women, domestic service attained the highest  growth (13.8% Information for the year 2000 shows real wage gains in the
to 15.1%). manufacturing industry among the same group of countries,
compared  with the performance attained in the same period of
Lastly, precariousness continues to expand among the occu- 1999 (-1.2%). Yet the actual 1.2% increase compares unfa-
pied work force, since increasing informality was coupled with vorably with a 2.2% increase registered prior to the Asian
falling social protection for waged workers.  Available informa- crisis (first semester of 1998).
tion indicates that the proportion of waged workers contributing
to social security dropped from 66.6% in 1990 to 65.9% in Real industrial wages grow in the majority of the countries un-
1999 (Statistical Annex). Reduced contributions are a common der review, although without following a regular pattern: 1631
feature among formal waged workers, informal workers and men Argentina (0.3%), Chile (1.5%), Colombia (4.1%), Mexico
and women alike. As a result, 55 of each 100 new waged work- (5.3%), Peru (3.4%), but decrease in Brazil (-1.5%) and
ers had access to social protection during the past decade. Uruguay (-0.9%).
FIGURE 3
LATIN AMERICA : EVOLUTION OF REAL WAGES. 1998 - 2000
(annualized rates of growth)
Source: ILO, based on official country data.
The average minimum wage shows a 0.5% increase in in Ecuador and Venezuela  (-30.1% and –4.3%, respectively)
real terms during the first three quarters of 2000, with re- and contracts moderately in other four: Costa Rica (-0.4%),
spect to the same period of 1999 (Statistical Annex). The El Salvador (-1.4%), Paraguay (-1.1%) and Uruguay
expansion of the minimum wage is lower than the average (-1.2%).
productivity increase (1.3%) and reflects falling rates of in-
The expansion of the average minimum wages shows a
flation in the majority of the countries under review during
declining tendency in the last three years, regardless of lower
this period (Figure 3). Conversely, the purchasing power of
inflation rates, due to more restrictive minimum wage policies
minimum wages in Ecuador and Venezuela deteriorated
adopted in several countries in response to the new conditions
as a result of inflationary and recessionary processes in
generated by the Asian crisis. The purchasing power of the
both countries.
average minimum wage reached 2.7% in 1998, dropped to
1.7% in 1999 and attained stability at 0.5% in 2000.
The evolution of the minimum wage varies from country to
country.  The purchasing power of the minimum wage Inflation continues to decline due to a steady implementation
improves in ten of the sixteen countries for which information of policies aimed at preserving macroeconomic stability,
is available, going from around 10% in Peru and Chile, to as well as a restrictive wage policy aligned with the growth
less than 1% in Colombia and Panama. In the remaining of productivity, in order to compensate to some extent the
seven countries, the real minimum wage drops significantly sharp appreciation of oil prices world wide.
BOX  2
14 THE PURCHASING POWER  OF WAGES
The well-being of workers and their families depends to a power in Guatemala (76), Nicaragua (85), Peru (69) and
great extent on the purchasing power of labour wages. The Uruguay (85).
income of poor workers depends basically on the minimum
wage, while the average earnings of higher paid workers Likewise, the same data show that in 1995,  a Latin
are provided by wages. For the purpose of measuring the American industrial worker had  to work 32 months to buy
purchasing power of workers in terms of homogeneous a modest automobile. In the year 2000, he/she would have
goods among countries, bread is used as a standard to work 35 months, as a result of the reduced purchasing
referring to the minimum wage, and a low-cost automobile power of industrial wages. Hence, industrial workers would
with respect to industrial wages. need three more months to purchase the same car as
compared to five years ago.  Countries enjoying higher
levels of purchasing power are Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Available figures show that the average minimum wage
Panama and Uruguay, where 10 to 20 monthly industrial
bought 3 kilograms of bread a day in 1995 while the average
wages may buy a low-cost automobile in the year 2000.
minimum wage for the year 2000 buys 5 kilograms of bread
Meanwhile, the purchasing power of industrial wages lags
a day, as a result of an increase of approximately 50% in
far behind in Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras,
the last five years; being this figure in line with the growth
where buying an automobile may require between four and
registered by the index of the real minimum wage in the region
seven years of work from an industrial worker.
between both years.  In 2000, a minimum wage can buy
146 kilograms of bread a month. The countries where the The purchasing power of Latin American industrial
minimum wage  has a high purchasing power (i.e. 200 or wages is clearly poor compared to the purchasing power
more kilograms of bread a month) are: Argentina (250), of industrial wages in developed countries. American or
Chile (200), Costa Rica (235) and Panama (372). At the French industrial workers only need 4 months work to
other end, the minimum wage commands less purchasing buy a low-cost automobile. Korean and Italian industrial
workers only need 5 months work, while their Spanish Last ly,  an internat ional  comparison between Lat in
counterparts have to toil 6 months to reach the same American industr ial  wages and those in developed
target. countr ies reveals that  the former are,  on average,
seven times lower than the latter. Nevertheless, the
These figures are revealing.  In spite of an increase of gap somewhat closes in the face of countr ies such
almost 50% in the last five years, the minimum wage is as Argent ina,  Chi le,  Panama and Uruguay,  where
indisputably  inadequate to  meet  the basic  food industrial wages command higher buying power: i.e.,
requirements of a standard household in many countries one third of the purchasing power of industrial salaries
of the region.  On the other hand, the falling purchasing in developed countries.  This example highlights not
power of deteriorated industrial wages indicates that only the exist ing product iv i ty  gap between Lat in
middle-income workers may have to continue to work American and developed countr ies,  but  a lso the
an inordinate number of months to buy a low-cost higher share of the lat ter ’s workers into the prof i ts
automobile, which is the symbol of modern consumer der ived f rom technological  progress in developed
power of Latin American workers. nations.
MINIMUM WAGE
Kilograms of bread which can be bought with one month’s minimum wage
135
INDUSTRIAL WAGE
Number of monthly wages needed to buy a low priced car*
Source: ILO, based on official country data.
* 1,000 - 1,500 cc. automobile
Average inflation in the countries under review reaches relates to the evolution of the absolute level of labour
7.9% in the first semester of 2000, below the rates reg- progress in each country.  This approach helps to gauge
istered in 1998 and 1999. Inflation kept declining in five the different patterns (progress, stagnation, setback),
of the nine countries in question: Chile (3.8% to 3.4%), provided that the last year of the period under review is
Colombia (12.7% to 9.4%), Mexico (18.3% to 10.1%), higher, equal or lower than the first year.  The second
Uruguay (7.4% to 4.3%) and Venezuela (26.1% to dimension involves the evolution of the relative level of
19.1%). labour progress; i.e. the changes registered by each
country with respect to all the others during the period
Widespread progress has been achieved in the area of under review.
economic stabilization. Only three out of nine countries
(Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela) show inflation rates Data used to conduct this analysis relate to the basic
over two digits.  In Brazil and Colombia, rates range indicators previously discussed (Statistical Annex). In
from 5% to 10% and the remaining four (Argentina, Chile, order to determine the relative level of labour progress
Peru and Uruguay) have annual inflation rates under of the countries during the period in question, data on
5%. unemployment and informality included in this report were
complemented with information about the level of indus-
trial and minimum wages and productivity, measured in
Labour progress in Latin US dollars and adjusted to the rate of exchange. Be-
America sides, the analysis covers two different periods (1990-
1997 and 1997-2000), for the purpose of evaluating the
As was previously stated, the quality of the labour mar- impact of the adjustment policies implemented in the face
ket performance in the year 2000 was lower than ex- of the Asian crisis on the  region’s labour performance.
52 pected, although economic activity is expanding faster16
than anticipated. Overall, unemployment does not give The evolution of the previously described indicators
ground in the region. Yet the purchasing power of indus- shows the following trends on labour progress in the
trial and minimum wages grows and productivity im- region for the 1990-2000 period.
proves.  The sole exception in this general picture is
Mexico, where unemployment is steadily abating along The evolut ion of  the absolute level of  labour
with a fast expansion of real wages and productivity, as progress highlights the fact that progress achieved in
a result of a solid economic recovery. the 1990-1997 period was halted by the negative effects
of the adjustment policies adopted to deal with the Asian
This section assesses labour progress in the region dur- crisis, on the performance of the labour market in the
ing the 1990-2000 period, from a medium-term perspec- countries under review (Table 1).  In that period, the
t ive. As  in  p rev ious  ana lys is  ( ILO,  1993-1999 labour situation improved in the majority of the countries
Labour Overview), the view to this issue is that labour in question (13 out 15):  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El
progress depends on the performance of employment, Salvador, Panama, Paraguay and Peru; stagnated in
real wages and productivity.  In operational terms, labour six countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras,
progress is measured on the basis of an index made of Mexico, and Uruguay and deteriorated only in Ecuador
five basic indicators: unemployment, informality, indus- and Venezuela.
trial wages, minimum wages and productivity. The index
varies directly with respect to changes in the last three Whenever takes place, labour progress is associated most
indicators and inversely to changes in the first two  (un- of the time with reduced unemployment, a moderate in-
employment and informality). crease of productivity, better industrial and minimum wages
and growing productivity. Chile is the sole country where
In order to examine the trends of labour progress, two the whole set of labour progress indicators improved dur-
dimensions must be taken into account. The first one ing the 1990-1997 period.
TABLE 1
LATIN AMERICA : SELECTED COUNTRIES
EVOLUTION OF LABOUR PROGRESS BY LEVELS. 1990-2000
Relative level of labour
progress. 1990 a/ Country/Period 1990-1997 1997-2000 1990-2000
HIGH Brazil
Chile
Mexico
MEDIUM-HIGH Argentina
Costa Rica
MEDIUM Ecuador
Panama
Paraguay
Uruguay
MEDIUM-LOW Colombia
Honduras 137
Venezuela
LOW Bolivia
Peru
El Salvador
Source: ILO, based on the Statistical Annex.
a/ The following indicators were used to measure the relative level of labour progress in 1990: urban unemployment rate, share of the informal sector in total non agricultural
employment, purchasing power of industrial and minimum wages, both expressed in comparable measurement units in the countries, and the productivity.
Note: The arrows indicate the direction of changes to labour progress:
Progress Setback Stagnation
Wherever the labour situation stagnated, improvements in any The policies implemented to deal with the Asian crisis inflicted
given indicators were neutralized by the deterioration of other setbacks even to those countries that had made progress in
indicators during that period.  The countries that manage to the labour area throughout the decade.  Thus, in the post-
reduce unemployment, did it through a slight reduction of pro- adjustment period (1997-2000), only two countries (Mexico
ductivity or in a context of declining productivity and real wages. and Honduras) preserved their labour progress because
In other countries, improved productivity was coupled with the they were left untouched by the effects of the Asian crisis.
deterioration of the level and quality of employment (increasing Meanwhile, labour progress relapses or stagnates in the
informality) and mixed results with respect to the evolution of majority of the countries. The indicators showed deterioration
real wages.   Lastly, the countries where the labour situation has of the labour situation in eight (8) out of fifteen (15) countries
deteriorated feature increasing unemployment and informality, (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador,
as well as falling real wages and productivity. Paraguay, and Peru), and stagnation in five (5) countries
TABLE 2
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
RELATIVE LEVEL OF LABOUR PROGRESS. 1990-2000
1990-1997 1997-2000
1990-2000
128 Source: ILO, based on the Statistical Anex.
(Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela) . In (Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela)
Honduras and Mexico, labour progress continued regard- and remained constant in four (4) countries (Colombia,
less of the crisis. Honduras, Mexico and Paraguay). It should be noted also
that the different components of the index display a diverse
The labour performance of the region during the last decade behavior. On one hand, most countries feature improved
of the XX century was erratic, since economic recovery was levels of productivity and industrial wages, but not with respect
affected by the so-called “tequila” crisis in 1995 (which had to minimum wages.  On the other, informality expands in
limited effects), and the 1998-99 “Asian” crisis, which hit a almost all of them, while the unemployment rate drops in
larger number of nations. Six countries show labour progress eight countries, rises in six and remains constant in one.
(Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama Therefore, the deterioration of employment quality, reinforced
and Peru), while three others stagnated (Bolivia, Brazil and in Argentina Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, by
Uruguay). Lastly, the indicators  showed a deteriorated labour insufficient generation of new jobs, appears to be the prevalent
situation  in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and problem.
Venezuela.
The relative level of labour progress is elicited by comparing
The slight and unsteady recovery of the labour situation that the position of each country with respect to all the others during
took place in the last decade, failed to compensate the damage the 1990-2000 period. As in the previous analysis, the period
caused by the foreign debt crisis in the 1980s. Comparing preceding the Asian crisis (1990-1997), as well as the post-
the index of labour performance  between the year 2000 and adjustment (1997-2000), are taken into account into the former.
the 1985, it shows improvements in only five (5) countries Table 2 displays the situation in the different countries in 1990
(Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Uruguay). (above-right) and 2000 (below-left) by descending levels of
Meanwhile, the situation deteriorated in six (6) countries progress for both years.
The countries located along the diagonal maintained in 2000 fact that both the labour supply and employment show
the same level of progress achieved in 1990.   Those below similar dynamics in the face of the expansion of the
it registered lower progress and those above it improved economic activity. However, it is expected that this trend
their relative position. will change in the second semester of 2000, since labour
supply-output elasticity is expected to be lower than em-
Five (5) out of fifteen (15) countries maintained their ployment-output elasticity in an expansionary context during
relative position of labour progress between 1990 and the year 2001. In this respect, it should be underlined that
2000 (Argentina, Chile, Mexico,Uruguay and Venezuela). including the last quarter of 1999, the region would register
Six (6) countries managed to improve their relative position nine quarters of continuous growth at an average rate of
of labour progress  (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, 4.2% between 1999 and 2001.
Panama,  and Peru).  But the majority of them failed to go
beyond the second step, except for El Salvador, which moved GDP growth expectations for the year 2001 overtake those
from a low position in 1990 to a medium  one in the year for the year 2000 in the nine countries under review, except
2000.  Regarding the evolution of the countries that for Mexico and Chile: Argentina (1.2% for 2000 and 3.7%
succeeded in maintaining or reaching a high level of labour for 2001), Brazil (4.0% and 4.2%), Colombia (2.0% and
progress, it should be underlined that Chile and Costa Rica 3.8%), Ecuador (0.5% and 3.5%), Peru (4.0 and 6.0%),
began their respective processes of productive change in Uruguay (0.5% and 4.0%) and Venezuela (2.5% and
the 1980s, while Mexico emerged from the crisis (1995- 3.0%). Mexico would grow 4.8% in  2001, a rate lower
1996) riding on a fast and sustained process of growth and than the expected  6.8% for 2000, while Chile would drop
with the capacity to create enough jobs to reduce from the expected  5.8% for  2000 to 5.5% in 2001.
unemployment and apply increasing productivity to improve
real wages. It is expected that the estimated increase of the GDP will
translate into a drop of 0.9 percentage points of the  aver-
Conversely, four (4) countries  (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and age unemployment rate in the year 2001 with respect to 139
Paraguay) suffered setbacks in terms of labour progress 2000. Major reductions will take place in Colombia (from
between 1990 and 2000. But these countries have a diverse 20.0%  for  2000 to  17.5%  in  2001), Uruguay (13.5% to
relative position. Brazil moves from a high level in 1990 to a 12.5%), Argentina (15.2% to  13.8%), Chile ( 9.3% to 8.3%),
medium-high position in 2000. The situation of the remainder Ecuador  (15.4%  to 14.0%) and Venezuela (14.3% to
three (3) countries is different. All of them relapsed: Ecuador and 13.0%). Brazil is expected to register a more moderate
Paraguay moved from a medium level for 1990 to the low level in decline (7.5% to 6.6%)  and the  rest of the countries
2000, while Colombia dropped from the medium-low level to the would  show as a whole a 1 percentage point cut of the
low position. unemployment rate.
These diverse growth prospects do not have a significant
Unemployment and product effect on the evolution of unemployment. Indeed,
projections.  2000-2001 unemployment rises even in countries where GDP growthrates exceed the regional average in 2001 but register
deceleration with respect to the previous year. This would be
The regional GDP is expected to reach over 4% during the the case of Mexico, where product growth is expected to
second semester of 2000 and throughout the year 2001 slowdown in the year 2001  (4.8% ) as compared to 2000 ( 6.8%)
(Statistical Annex). This performance would help to reduce and unemployment  increases (2.7% against 2.3%).
the regional unemployment rate from 9.0% in 2000 to 8.1%
during 2001 (Figure 4). Projections for the years 2000 and 2001 indicate that the
economic recovery will effect changes to labour supply-
Although the maintenance of the current unemployment rate output and employment-output elasticity throughout the
would appear to be inconsistent with the level of economic period (Figures 4 and 5).  After an increase of the labour
recovery already achieved, this behavior responds to the supply recorded at the beginning of the recovery process,
FIGURE 4
LATIN AMERICA: LABOUR SUPPLY AND EMPLOYMENT. 1998 - 2001*
(percentages)
Source: ILO, based on official data and estimations, and the Unemployment Projection Model.
*Estimates.
FIGURE 5
LATIN AMERICA : GDP GROWTH AND UNEMPLOYMENT. 1998-2001*
(percentages)
220
Source: ILO, based on official data and estimations, and the Unemployment Projection Model.
*Estimates.
it is expected that the growth of the participation rate will The occupation rate reaches 51.6% in the first semester of
slow down once the economy reaches its pre-crisis 2000, below its pre-crisis level of 52.3%. It is estimated that
levels. The rate of participation in the first semester of the economic recovery would lead to a 1.4% annual
2000 (56.9%) is close to the prevailing rate in the pre- increase of the occupation rate in 2001, thus reaching its
crisis period (57.0%). Under these conditions, it is ex- 1998 level. As a result, the employment level of the pre-
pected that the rate of participation will grow 0.6% in 2001, crisis period would be reinstated two years and a half after
to reach 57.2% by the end of the year. the inception of the crisis.
SPECIAL SUBJECT
More and better employment opportunities for youths
Cutting down increasingly high levels of youth unem- years of age) increased less than in the other groups,
ployment was one of the most pressing challenges moving from 7.5% in 1990 to 13.3% in 1999.
faced by Latin American countries in the early 1990s.
By the end of the last decade, a global look into the • The rate of youth participation in the labour
situation of youths in the region reveals that notwith- market comes to a standstill. Low growth of both the
standing a moderate expansion of the work force,  the EAP (1.8% per year) and the young population  (1.8%
prob lem o f  you th  unemployment  con t inues  to  be per year) came along with a 23.6% to 27.4% increase of
unresolved. Besides, the decl ining qual i ty of jobs the rate of schooling between 1990 and 1999, but also with
a v a i l a b l e  for young people highlights t h e i r  pecul iar a declining proportion of youths who are idle and out of
occupational vulnerability, regardless of improvements school.  Thus, the rate of youth participation remained at
in their education level. around 58% (69.9% among men and 46.6% among
women). Besides, the annual growth of youth EAP was
The purpose of this section is to examine the situation comparatively higher among the poor sectors (2.6%) and
of young people in the labour market on a regional level, women (2.8%).
on the basis of data provided by household surveys
conducted in the labour market during the 1990-1999 • These figures contrast with those of OECD
period in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, countries,where the rates of participation for young male
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, 231and women are 30% and 39%, respectively. On the other
whose combined EAP represents 78% of the regional hand, the rate of schooling achieved by young Latin Americans
total. (27%) is too low if we compare it with the prevailing rate in
developed countries (36%).
The conclusions of this review are as follows:
• Youths have a hard time securing a job: the
rate of occupation drops.  Youth rate of occupation
The occupational situation of the youth drops as a result of slow employment growth  (0.8% per
does not improve in the 1990s year) in relation to the expansion of the young population
(1.8%) .  Employment generation betrays an age bias.
• Unemployment grows swiftly in spite of a mod- While the adult population increased at an annual rate of
erate expansion of the work force.  The youth rate of 3.3% during the period, 7 out of 100 new hired were youths
unemployment doubled, climbing from 7.9% in 1990 to 16% and 93 were adults.  Besides, access was harder to youth
in 1999; almost twice the average regional rate of unem- in the formal sector, since 100% of new employment was
ployment. created in the informal sector.
• Unemployment continued to hit the poor, women • Employment opportunities still vary according
and teenagers hardest (15 to 19 years of age). By the to socioeconomic level and sex.  By the end of the
end of the decade, the rate of unemployment reached 24.6% decade, the rate of occupation among the poorest youths
among the poor, against 11.5% among rich youngsters, (43%) is lower than that of the richest youngsters (53%),
20.1% among women and 19.9% among younger teens and the rate among young women (37%) is lower than the
(15 to 19).  Yet unemployment among youngsters (20 to 24 male rate (61%).
The quality of youth employment • Nonetheless, the expansion of employment –
deteriorates insufficient as it is- goes along with better edu-
cation.  The employment of youths with more than 10
• The total of new youth employment was cre- years of schooling grew 2.5% per year, while  the em-
ated in the informal sector (+ 2.5% per year) and ployment  of poorly  educated  youngsters (less than 6
employment informality increased from 42% in 1990 to years of schooling)  contracted during the  period  (-2.9%).
47% in 1999. This increase took place in every branch In the 1990s, the occupation of youths in the 20 to 24
of economic activity, particularly in the construction in- year old age group increased 2.9% per year, but de-
dustry, where it climbed from 54.6% to 70% in the pe- clined among youths who have low levels of schooling
riod under review. (-1.9).
• Social security coverage dropped among youth • Level of jobs and wage improvements are posi-
from 44% in 1990 to 38% by the end of the decade, tively linked to school attendance. The average
following a 7.2% reduction of young affiliates through- income of occupied youths with higher education is
out the period. 4.6 times over the income of those who have attained
basic education. This development shows that the so-
• Almost all newly-created jobs were part-time called education prize grows as school attendance in-
ones (less than 20 hours per week), affecting youths creases.  Thus, a high-school degree increases a
occupied in both the formal and informal sectors.  More- worker ’s income by 46.3%, with respect to workers
over, youths have longer work days, specially in the with basic education. Besides, this study confirmed
private and public formal sectors. that the growth of real wages is directly proportional to
the educational level achieved by workers throughout
• Wage trends are an exception, since the in- the decade.
22
come gap between youths and adults is slightly
narrowing.Yet income inequality is still high among • The level of education improved specifically
youths. At the end of the decade, the wages of workers among workers occupied in the informal sector.
occupied in the informal sector are 44% lower than those Occupied informal workers with more than 10 years of
in the formal sector; i.e. 5 percentage points more than schooling increased at an annual rate of 6.5%. (against
the gap recorded in the early 1990s. 3.8% in the formal sector); progress is greater among
workers employed in microenterprises (+ 7% per year).
Better education does not necessarily Yet the educational gap is still large between workers
guarantee a greater access of youths  to employed in the formal and informal sectors.  In the for-
employment opportunities mal sector, half of them have more than 10 years of
schooling against 60% in the public sector, while only
• The rate of unemployment  increased and the one out of every four workers employed in the informal
sector has attained that level.
quality of  employment  deteriorated at the end
of the period, in spite of the fact that youths
were better educated. Among the unemployed, the More and better employment opportu-
percentage of youths with less than six years of school- nities must be created for youths
ing drops from 30% in 1990 to 21% in 1999, and the
male-female gap narrows. Among women, only a 17% • Economic growth is essential but fails to im-
has less than 6 years of schooling and 41.8% has over prove the access of youths to the labour market.
10 years. Occupied youths have a lower level of school- An annual rate of GDP growth over 7.0% -which is hardly
ing than the unemployed: 26% of them have less than achievable according to current projections- would be
six years of schooling and 33% have over 10 years required just to maintain the rate of unemployment of the
(36% among the unemployed). late 1990s.
• Therefore, new efforts should be made to widen (Figure 1a); i.e. almost twice the average regional rate of unem-
employment opportunities consistent with increasing ployment (9%). Another way of confirming this trend is provided
educational levels among youths. Adequate conditions by the fact that 6 out of each 10 new youths entering the EAP
should be created to incorporate young workers into during the decade were laid off.
microenterprises, while the public and private sectors should
do the same in the area of community services and the service An additional feature of youth unemployment is the relative in-
sector, respectively. crease of the number of youngsters who are looking for jobs for
the first time with respect to unemployed workers (31% in 1990
• The educational system should focus on improv- to 42% by the end of the decade) (Annex, Table 2).  As men-
ing the employability of young people.  Employment tioned earlier, there are signs to the effect that the chances of
oriented training should focus on creating mechanisms that finding employment depend to a great extent on the labour
emphasize on the job training in private enterprises and the experience of the job seeker. Thus, a substantial portion of
public sector, as a substantive component of training programs unemployed youths are caught in a vicious circle, where there is
and labour insertion. no way of finding a job without previous experience, nor the
chance of acquiring previous experience without the opportunity
of having a job.
A.  The occupational situation of
youths does not improve in the 1990s Youth unemployment is higher among the poor. Unem-
ployment is comparatively higher among youths who belong to
1. Youth unemployment grows in the the poorest segments of society. By the end of the decade, the
1990s rate of unemployment rises regularly from 11.5% in the richest
quintile to 24.6% in the poorest  (Figure 2a).  In other words, one
The rate of youth unemployment doubles.  In spite of the out of each nine young workers are unemployed in the richest
poor growth of the youth EAP, the rate of unemployment doubled quintile, while unemployment affects one out of four in the poorest
among young people, climbing from 7.9% in 1990 to 16% 1999 quintile. 23
FIGURE 1a
LATIN AMERICA : SELECTED COUNTRIES
RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT BY AGE GROUP AND SEX. 1990-1999
(percentages)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined EAP
represents 78% of the regional total.
FIGURE 2a
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT BY INCOME QUINTILE. 1990-1999
(percentages)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and
Uruguay, whose combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
242 Yet the number of the unemployed grows swif t ly in young women is totally out of  proportion with respect
all other economic segments, with the richest quintile to their participation in the EAP.
showing the most significant shift by increasing three-
fold in the decade.  Indeed the richest quintiles display 2. Youths participation rate
a higher rate of  “new unemployed-new EAP” than  stagnated
the poorest ones. In the latter, although the EAP ex-
panded quickly, access to employment grew essentially Examining the part ic ipat ion of youths in the labour
in the informal sector and part-t ime arrangements. market is of the utmost importance. First of al l ,  the
expansion of the youth work force is directly related
Young women are more affected by unemploy- to an increasing chance of being laid off, since poorly
ment than young men. The number of unemployed qual i f ied youths,  fa i l ing to displace adul t  workers,
young women almost tr ipl icated during the decade, general ly compete among themselves. Secondly, a
against a twofold increase for men. The female rate of high rate of youth participation is a negative indica-
unemployment rose more than twofold in the period tor because i t  ref lects an early withdrawal from the
(from 8.5% in 1990 to 20.1% 1999), particularly in the formal educational system to take highly precarious
poorest households, cl imbing to 31.6% in the f irst jobs.  On one hand, th is s i tuat ion restr ic ts young
quintile by the end of the decade. people’s possibilit ies to invest in the development of
their  basic human capi ta l ,  as wel l  as the return of
Thus, the proportion of unemployed young female in their future investment in training activities. Besides,
total unemployment increased from 40% in 1990 to i t  a lso entai ls  the fu l f i l lment of  a h ighly l ikely sce-
51% at the end of the decade. While the participation nar io  where  you ths  may  become t rapped  in  low
of the young female EAP in the female work force quality, low productivity and poorly educational labour
also grew (from 37% to 40%), unemployment among circles. In other words, a condition denoting not only
a poor current labour posit ioning, but also a heavy 10 years of schooling grows from 26% in 1990 to 34% in
mortgage on their future.  The highlights of the evolu- 1999. This trend is fully consistent with another impor-
tion of the youth work force are as follows: tant figure: while the youth population expanded at an
annual rate of 1.8% during the period, the number of
Stagnation of the participation rate around 58% students grew 3.6%. Therefore, the proportion of stu-
throughout the period.  The youth work force did not ex- dents in the youth population increased from 23.6% to
pand. Its 1.8% annual rate of growth is considerably 27.4% between 1990 and 1999, respectively. In this re-
lower than the adult EAP during the decade. Thus, the gard, it is reasonable to predict that a growing number of
youth work force moved from 27.2% of the total in 1990 youths will make efforts to work while continuing to im-
to 24.4% by the end of the decade. (Annex, Table 1). prove their education, thanks to increasing flexibility in
The slow growth of the youth EAP was basically influ- terms of work schedules and contractual arrangements,
enced by the following factors: and larger incentives to promote investment in the area
of human capital.
Firstly, the population and the youth EAP experienced a
moderate expansion: both grew at an annual rate of 1.8%, Thirdly, the proportion of youths who are idle and off the
which explains why the rate of youth participation re- school system, a source of major social and labour con-
mained constant during the period. Conversely, the adult cerns, dropped 6.9% during the period.
population increased at an average annual rate of 2.7%
(Figure 3a), while the corresponding EAP grew 3.6% Another explanation to the behavior of the youth rate of
per year. participation has to do with the reaction of the youth popu-
lation to the economic cycle. According to the concept of
Secondly, school attendance increased among added worker , when parental unemployment cuts
youths. During the 1990s, school attendance shows a down the family income, youngsters may feel encour-
clear and regular upward tendency (Figure 4a).  In the aged to drop out of school in order to look after a source 235
countries under review, the proportion of youths with over of income, thus increasing the rate of participation.
FIGURE 3a
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EAP EXPANSION 1990-1999
(average annual percentages )
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined
EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
FIGURE 4a
 LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
YOUTH POPULATION: SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 1990 AND 1999
(percentages)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru
and Uruguay, whose combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
Conversely, the notion of discouraged worker suggests Faster expansion of  the  youths poor work force.
that even the slightest chance of landing a job (in view of The expansion of the youth work force highlights significant
the general rate of unemployment) increases the profit- differences by economic bracket. The work force grew at
262 ability of using idle time to accumulate human capital by an average annual rate of 2.6% among poor youths (first
remaining longer in the formal school system or in other two quintiles), but registered a much lower rate (1.1%)
training opportunities, driving down the rate of participa- among youths pertaining to higher quintiles.
tion. In order to gather   more information on this issue,
the situation of young people  in the different income These differences may be explained to a certain extent by
quintiles should be differentiated (Figure 5a). demographic factors: the poorest segments of the young
FIGURE 5a
 LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EAP EXPANSION BY INCOME QUINTILE AND SEX. 1990-1999
(annual growth percentages )
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and
Uruguay, whose combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
population expanded at a 2.3% annual rate, which is con- related to the 20 to 24 year old age group, whose rate of
siderably higher than the 1.5% increase in the richest participation rose from 68.9% to 71.7% between 1990 and
quintiles. 1999, respectively.
Besides, the participation rate of the poorest segments The reduction of the rate of participation among teenag-
of the young population expanded quickly (from 53.3% ers (15 to 19 years of age) is directly related to the sig-
in 1990 to 54.8% in 1999), while the participation of the nificant expansion of the student population in this age
richest segments contracted from 62% to 60.1% in the group, which rose at an annual rate of 3.1% during the
same period.  With regard to the first quintiles, the figures period (against an annual rate increase of 1.1% for the
show two opposing effects. On one hand, the efforts made respective population).  Therefore, the proportion of stu-
by the countries to increase the school coverage and dents in the total population of this age group climbed
ensure school attendance appear to have been fruitful, from 36.9% in 1990 to 42.1% in 1999.  Another signifi-
to the extent that the expansion of the student population cant figure reinforcing the previous findings is that the
(slightly over 3.8% a year) was comparatively larger proportion of teenagers in the 15 to 19 year old age group
among these youths. However, this effect might have with over 5 years of school attendance jumped from 61%
been outstripped by the scope of the number of youths to 75% in the same period.
seeking employment, most likely driven by a declining
family income. As we will see below, most of them may What distinguishes both age groups is the increasing
have lost their jobs. As far as the youths in the higher number of individuals who are seeking employment.
quintiles, the drop in the rate of participation may have This trend is comparatively more important in the 20 to
been caused basically by a strong expansion of the 24 year old age group than in the 15 to 19 year old age
school population (3.5%), which went mostly uncontested group, because the latter was displaced from the market
by the need to seek income from work. (absolute reduction of employment) while the level of oc- 237
cupation in the former was on the rise.
Lastly, each and every quintile reflected a sharp decrease
in the number of idle youths who are off the school sys- Fast incorporation of young women into the work
tem,  –15% in the richest quintiles. This feature shows that force.  One of the most important features of the period
these youths chose either to join the school population or under review is the growth of the young female EAP,
to go out actively hunting for employment. reaching an annual rate of 2.8%, while the demographic
expansion of this group showed a 1.8%. This meant that
Youth labour supply and school attendance.  The seven out of each ten young women entered the work
analysis of this issue shows significant changes when force and three remained idle during the period. Along
the focus is placed only on 15 to 19 year old teenagers, with a 1.2% rate of expansion of the work force of young
whose behavior varies widely with respect to the  20-24 male (substantially lower than the groups’ rate of demo-
year old age group. graphic growth), the proportion of women in the youth
EAP grew slightly over 40% in the period.
The 15 to 19 year old work force  expanded compara-
tively less (1.1% a year) than the rate for the 20 to 24 Yet the expansion of the adult female work force (5.3%
year old age group (2.3%). This goes associated to some per year) was significantly larger than the growth of the
extent to a smaller demographic expansion of the 15 to youth work force, albeit starting from a smaller propor-
19 year old age group (1.6% per year), as compared to tion (young women represented 37% of the total youth
the 20 to 24 year old age group (1.8%), but most impor- EAP, while adult women represented 34.8% of the EAP
tantly by a sharp decline of the rate of participation of the in 1990) leading in the late 1990s to a similar participa-
youngest group from 48.5% in 1990 to 46.3 in 1999 tion in the respective work forces (40%) by young and
(Annex, Table 1). This behavior is at odds with the findings adult women.
FIGURE 6a
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EXPANSION OF THE OCCUPIED BY AGE. 1990-1999
(annual average rate)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose
combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
This analysis may be enriched by incorporating age and poor for the 15 to 19 year old age group. Conversely, the
socioeconomic dimensions pertaining to young women. employment of women in the 20 to 24 year old age group
282
Firstly, the expansion of the female EAP in the 15 to 19 age showed a more favorable evolution.
group is very moderate (1.9% per year; i.e. just slightly
over a 1.6% annual rate of demographic expansion), against Changes to the rate of participation by socioeconomic level
the 20 to 24 year old age group, with a 3.3% annual rate add to the effects of the demographic expansion previously
(and a 1.8% annual rate of demographic expansion).  Sec- discussed: young women in the two poorest quintiles in-
ondly, the data show that the rate of growth of the young crease their rate of participation from 34.3% to 40.7%, while
female EAP is high among the poorest quintiles, where the the rate of those in the richest quintiles stagnate, showing a
youth EAP expands at a 3.2% annual rate and  the two meager 0.4% increase (from 51.1% to 51.5%) between
richest quintiles experience virtual stagnation (0.1% per 1990 and 1999. This behavior appears to indicate that the
year).  Thus, by the end of the decade the participation of effect of the added worker prevails in the poorest segments
young women in the two richest quintiles rose from 34.3% of the female population, since the poorest households  tend
in 1990 to  40.7%. to send more women out to seek for employment.
Although the demographic expansion helps to explain  to 3.  Difficult access of youths to employ-
some extent the above mentioned changes, most of the ment: A declining occupation rate
expansion of  the young female EAP is due to the evolution
of the rate of participation, which increases from 42.8% in Youth employment grows slowly.  Total employment
1990 to 46.6% in 1999.  The change in question is very in the region expanded at a 2.6% average annual rate
significant in the 20 to 24 year old age group, where the rate during the period under review. However, employment
of participation climbs from 50.8% to 58% in the period. generation displays a clear adult bias. Youth employment
Conversely, in the 15 to 19 year old age group, a 0.9% grew at a tiny annual rate of 0.8%, while adult employment
increase registered in the same period is not relevant achieved 3.3% (Figure 6a). This trend meant that 7 out
(Annex, Table 1).  This phenomenon seems to be strongly of each 100 new hirings between 1990 and 1999 were
related to the probability of finding employment, which is for young people and 93 were for adults, confirming the
deepening of the existing adult bias in the labour market. 2.9% throughout the decade. In this same group, men
As a result, young men and women represented 22.3% of showed the most conspicuous decline (4.4%).
total employment by the end of the decade (almost three
percentage points less than in 1990). Besides, access to employment was differentiated by so-
cioeconomic level.  Employment expanded in the two lower
From a different point of view, youth employment-product quintiles at a 1.2% annual rate, while higher quintiles grew
elasticity reaches a tiny 0.25, considering that the annual 0.2% (Figure 7a).
regional rate of GDP growth was 3.2% between 1990 and
1999. It should be noted that adult employment-product elas- This development relates to the fact that the quest for em-
ticity increased to 1.03 and that the average for the period ployment was much more massive in the poorest quintiles.
was 0.81.  According to this approach and assuming that Yet the figures also suggest that poorest youngsters were
youth employment-product elasticity (0.25) had been main- comparatively more successful finding jobs than those who
tained throughout the period, the 1990 youth rate of unem- had just entered the EAP: employment expansion in the
ployment would have  remained at that level (7.9%) pro- poorest quintiles represents 40% of the increase of the EAP
vided that the  annual rate of GDP expansion had  reached in these quintiles, against less than 20% in the richest
7.2% (i.e. more than doubling  the rate of growth effectively quintiles for the period.
attained in the decade). An examination of the main rea-
sons for the slow growth of youth employment in the 1990s Besides, access to employment was comparatively more
follows. favorable to young women, whose level of occupation grew
at an annual rate of 1.3% against a tiny 0.5% among men.
Differentiated access to employment opportunities. A significant aspect of this trend is that female employment
Access of youths to employment was most difficult for the expanded almost exclusively in the two poorest quintiles,
15 to 19 group of teenagers, where employment contracted while growth in the two higher quintiles was negligible.
239
FIGURE 7a
LATIN AMERICA: SELECTED COUNTRIES
EMPLOYMENT CREATION BY QUINTILE AND SEX. 1990-1999
(annual average percentage)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined
EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
FIGURE 8a
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EVOLUTION OF THE INFORMALITY BY BRANCH OF ACTIVITY. 1990-1999
(percentages)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined
EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
3202
Yet the rate of occupation (the ratio between occupied work- Increasing informality was stronger than average in the
ers and the working age population) continues to be sub- 15 to 19 year old age group, where the loss of formal
stantially lower among the poorest groups and among employment  (-1.4%) was almost compensated to the
women, which are precisely the brackets that experienced last job by greater access to informal employment during
a more positive evolution. The rate of occupation reaches the period  (14.1%).  This developments meant that 57%
61% among men and 37% among women. By the end of of occupied non farm youths in the 15 to 19 year old age
the decade, it reaches 43% in the two poorest quintiles and group were employed in the informal sector by the end of
53% in the two richest quintiles. the decade.
Increasing informality in the area of youth employment takes
B. Declining employment quality place at an aggregated level but also in every branch of
activity (Figure 8a).  This increase is reflected specially in
1.  Informality of employment the construction industry, where 54.6% of occupied youths
in 1990 belong to the informal sector, while this proportion
The expansion of informal employment among youths climbs to approximately 70% at the end of the period. In
reached an annual rate of 2.5%, while formal employment most cases, youth had access to the construction industry
remained virtually constant during the period (total employ- as independent workers and, in a smaller proportion, as
ment among youths grew 0.8% per year during the decade). waged workers occupied in microenterprises.
In other words, all new youth employment was created in the
informal sector, which represented 47% of non farm youth Creation of youth formal employment was led by the
employment in 1999 (against 42% at the beginning of services and commerce sectors. This development
the decade). Adult workers concentrated 100% of the indicates  that increasing youth employment in tertiary
growth of formal employment and informal employment activities goes across formality and informality. Indeed
also expanded fast among adults. the proportion of youths occupied in the tertiary sector
increased from 54% in  1990 to 59% in 1999; i.e. three cupations grow in all of them, except for the highest one. In
out of five youths work in some kind of service activity by the the two poorest quintiles, informal employment increa-
end of the decade.  Yet the expansion of employment in sed at an annual rate of 3.5%  which is at odds with the
tertiary activities was even stronger among adults; thus, poor evolution of formal employment. Proportionally, the
youth participation in the total employment in this sector highest increases in the poorest quintiles involved own-
dropped from 25% to 21% at the end of the period. account workers and basically family workers, although
an increase over 4.6% per year among young workers
Youth employment participation also diminished in the public hired by microenterprises was also apparent.  Besides,
sector (1.7% per year), while the occupied adult population own-account workers are  the most frequent occupa-
expanded 3.3% per year. Although this was a predictable
tional category among youths belonging to the first quintile
outcome, in the sense that youths have a harder time to meet
(12.5%), closely followed by formal sector waged workers
public sector requirements (school attendance, previous
(11.1%) and wage earners occupied in microenterprises
experience), declining youth participation in this sector also
indicates that higher levels of schooling failed to provide (10.6%).
access to public service. These conditions suggest the
possibility of implementing youth employment programs 2.Declining social security coverage
at the municipal level, to provide, for example, community
services, among other sources of employment. The number of occupied youths who contribute to any
given social security or health system dropped 7.2%
On the other hand, a review of the quintiles belonging to during the period, driving the affiliation rate in these
the households of occupied youths shows that informal oc- schemes from 44% in 1990 to 8% in 1999 (Annex, Table 3).
2331
FIGURE 9a
LATIN AMERICA : SELECTED COUNTRIES
EVOLUTION OF OCCUPATION BY WORKING DAY. 1990-1999
(variation percentage for the period)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined EAP
represents 78% of the regional total.
FIGURE 10a
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
YOUTH WAGES/ADULTS WAGES. 1990-1999
(percentages)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and
Uruguay, whose combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
On the other hand, the number of occupied youths lacking all new youth employment generated throughout the de-
social protection grew 15.6% during the period, causing the cade consisted in part-time jobs. Thus, the number of
proportion of unprotected youths to go over 60%. The situa- youths who work less than 20 hours per week increased
tion is even more critical in the 15 to 19 year old age group, 114%, while total stagnation prevails in the remainder
where only one out of four youths enjoys protection from any layers during the period (Figure 9a). Hence, the pro-
322 given social security or health system. portion of youths who work less than 20 hours per week
has doubled: from 6.2% in 1990 to 12.4% by the end of
Social security coverage varies in direct relation to employ- the decade.
ment formality: two out of each six youth occupied in the
formal sector are covered, while coverage in the informal Occupational categories of the informal sector such as
sector reaches just one out of six. However, the number of own-account and farm workers, where one out of each
covered youths in the formal sector decreased 12.6% for the four youths works less than 20 hours per week, are
period, calling attention to a process of growing job precar- those where part-time work is more frequent. (Annex,
iousness in the formal sector that may join the ongoing pro- Table 4). At the beginning of the decade, the proportion
cess of increasing informality during the decade. among own-account workers was one out of each five
workers. However, the major shift involving part-time
The rate of participation in social protection systems de- labour took place in the category of farm workers, which
creased in the formal sector too, although at a more moder- in the early 1990s represented less than 5% of the
ate pace than in the informal sector. Yet the proportion of total.
informal young workers lacking social protection grew from
77.3% in 1990 to 79.7% in 1999. Part-time hiring increased in the formal sector too. The
growing number of youths in this category who work
3. Hours of work: Growing part-time less than 20 hours (3.6% per year) is significant, taking
work and longer working  hours account that youth unemployment stagnated to some
extent. These figures are tantamount to say that youth
The absolute number of new jobs occupied by youths employment lost in the formal sector may be compen-
virtually matches the number of new jobs featuring a 20 sated wi th addi t ional  part - t ime employment in the
hour working week. In average, this would mean that same sector.  This increase was mainly due to a
strong expansion of own-account part-time workers in C. Improved educational levels
the formal sector (professional people and technicians). and the occupational situation
Besides, the same figures show that labour market ad- of youths
justment is taking place by means of  increasing the
number of working hours per week over accepted stan- Educat ion is  an ext raord inary  too l  to  improve the
dards:  in the private formal sector, the number of youths occupational situation of youths. Yet the rate of youth
who work 49 or more hours increased at an annual unemployment doubled in the period, employment
rate  of 2.4% during the period.  This trend was strongly pract ical ly  stagnated and the qual i ty  of  youth em-
influenced by the expansion of the number of youths ployment deter iorated,  in  spi te of   h igher levels of
toiling as own-account workers in the formal sector and, school attendance, which is one of the greatest achieve-
to a lesser extent, the increasing number of youths wage
ments of the decade.
earners in this sector.
1. Youths attain a higher level of educa-
The proportion of youths who work 49 hours or more
increases from 13.3% in 1990 to 16.2% in 1999, while tion by the end of the decade
the proportion for the public sector climbs from 10.1%
to 15.3% in the same period (Annex, Table 4). Greater  access to educat ion helped to reduce the
pressure of young new job seekers on the labour market,
4. Wages:  Narrowing the gap between preventing  a greater increase of the rate of youth un-
youths and adults employment.  Nevertheless, better education did not 233
lead to an expansion of employment capable of meeting
The wage gap between youngsters and adults is stil l the small increase of the youth labour supply. By the
very large regardless of a slight narrowing recorded in end of the decade, youngsters who have a better education
the period under review. than at the inception of the period under review, face
major difficulties in their quest for employment.
A young worker’s wage represents 43% of an adult’s
wage; by the end of the decade, this proportion drops A first comment in this respect points to the fact that the
to 28% for workers under 20 years of age (Figure 10a). educational level of the unemployed has increased con-
Both percentages reveal a small increase with respect siderably. By the end of the decade, 30% of unem-
to 1990 (40% and 26%, respectively). ployed youths had less than 6 years of schooling. Ten
years later, this proportion had decreased to 21%. Like-
The wage gap between young workers in the formal wise, the number of youths with more than 10 years of
and informal sectors also increased significantly in the school attendance grows from 30% to 36% between
period under review. Currently, workers occupied in 1990 and 1999, respectively. (Annex, Table 2).  While
the informal sector earn 44% less than those in the most important relative advances in this area took place
formal sector; i.e. 5 percentage points over the exist-
among men, only 17% of unemployed women have
ing gap at the beginning of the decade. The importance
less than 6 years of schooling and 41.8% have over 10
of this figure grows substantially following the decline of
years of school attendance in 1999.
youth formal employment by a rate  similar to that of the
expansion of informal employment. Hence, economic
inequality deepens among young occupied workers be- On average, occupied youths have lower levels of school
tween a gradually shrinking sector of formal workers attendance than the unemployed.  Among the former, 28%
and an expansionary informal sector. has attained less than 6 years of schooling at the end of
BOX  3
YOUTHS  EDUCATIONAL LEVEL,  EMPLOYMENT AND  WAGES
Increasing employment failed to respond to the expan- attended basic school (0 to 5 years).  In this context,
sion of the EAP, but its growth remains positively tied the so-called educational prize  (i.e. the increased
to the educational level.  School attendance figures for income earned by a worker on the basis of  having
occupied youths show that the number of those who attained a higher level of education)  grows according
have over 10 years of schooling increased at an an- to the scope of his/her school attendance. Thus, the
nual rate of 2.5% during the decade. Conversely, oc- completion of the basic school cycle (6 to 9 years of
cupied youths with less than 6 years of schooling de- schooling) increases a worker’s income by 42.1% with
creased by 3.8%.  This trend is even stronger in the 20 respect to those who have only 5 years of schooling.
to 24 year old age group, where the increase of occu- The educational prize continues to grow as workers
pied youths with over 10 years of school attendance attain secondary education with respect to those who
reached an annual rate of growth of 2.9%, while those completed basic education only (46.3%). Achieving
with less than 5 years of schooling decreased  1.9% higher education means that a young worker’s income
per year during the decade. (Annex, Table 6). more than doubles with respect to those who completed
secondary education.
The level and improvement of Improving youth wages
are also posit ively related to the workers’ school Available information suggests that education is the source
record. On one hand, the incidence of educational of a high rate of profitability for  workers, since each addi-
3242 achievements on wage levels is reflected in the fact tional school year raises their wages by 8.4% among
that the average income of occupied workers who have those who complete the primary school cycle (compared
higher education (13 or more years of schooling) in to  those who fail to complete it), 10.2% to those who
1999 is 4.6 times higher than the income of those who complete high-school education (compare to those
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATIONAL LEVEL. 1990-1999
(rate of variation)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
(continued)
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
WAGES AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. 1990-1999
(0-5 years of schooling segment - 1990=100)
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose
combined EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
who completed basic school), and  15% to those attaining years of schooling) represents  0.9%; 1.9% to those  who have
higher education (against those who completed high-school). completed basic school (6 to 9 years), and 2.3% to those who
completed high-school (9 to 12 years). Lastly, the real wages of
On the other hand, the data show that improving wages in real workers who attained higher education (13 or more years) in-
terms is directly proportional to the educational level during the crease by 5.9% per year during the decade, reflecting better
decade. The rate of growth of the real annual income among employment opportunities available to young people who enjoy
395
occupied workers who failed to complete basic school (0 to 5 a high level of education.
the decade, against  21% among the unemployed. Similarly, year old age group, doubling their number during the pe-
among occupied youths, 33% has over 10 years of school- riod. Besides, a generalized deepening of educational lev-
ing, against 36%  among the unemployed (Annex, Table 5). els, these figures are also influenced by the shift of highly
educated youths to the informal sector.
The growth of youth employment and wages is directly re-
lated to their educational achievements  (Box 3). 3. Youths longer school attendance
failed to improve access to the labour
2. Diverse distribution of higher educa- market
tional levels among the youths
This negative outcome may be blamed on an educational
The educational level increased mainly among youths occu- approach that fails to provide youths with the appropriate
pied in the informal sector, where the number of youngsters tools to perform successfully in the labour market. For-
with more than 10 years of school attendance grew at an mal sector enterprises prefer to hire adults, almost re-
annual rate of 6.5% (against 3.8% in the formal sector) while gardless of the educational level of young jobseekers.
those with less than 6 years of schooling decreased 2.2%. The young candidate appears to be caught in a vicious
Major progress in education is also apparent among young circle that he/she usually cannot evade from, unless the
wage earners occupied in small enterprises, where the num- rest of society takes decisive action. The formal sector
ber of youths with more than 10 years of schooling increased does not hire young people on the grounds that they lack
7%.   This expansion was more significant in the 15 to 19 previous labour experience, an approach that is bound to
further prevent them from acquiring experience. In this re- process of economic growth, employment opportunities
spect, youth oriented Labour Training Programmes imple- and the orientation of the educational system.
mented in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay have attained im-
portant results towards breaking down the vicious circle by
providing the elusive experience by means of labour prac- 1. Economic growth
tices.
Besides, the educational system does not provide youths with
the necessary management skills to embrace economic According to current projections, the annual rate of GDP
ventures with relative success. Young people approach growth will hardly reach 7% or more in the present de-
these activities as a strategy to generate income in the short cade, as required to maintain the unemployment rate of
run, rather than an entrepreneurial strategy. Educational the late 1990s (16%). This situation indicates that eco-
and training systems should be improved in this regard. nomic growth alone, while being indispensable, is not
enough to improve the access of youths to the labour
Nevertheless, quantitative progress in the educational area market.
is likely to become a platform for the development of new
strategies and tools to increase youth employability.  In-
deed the large educational reserve represented by 2. New employment opportunities
microenterprises may provide the potential necessary to
launch permanent training processes.
To achieve that, new efforts to expand employment op-
2326 The educational system alone cannot guarantee greater portunities for this segment of the population would have to
access to employment and should not be made fully re-
be made. Such efforts should basically focus on creating
sponsible for the low quality of available youth employment.
in microenterprises and the public sector, as well as
It is evident that the productive structure fails to make full
through private and/or community services, new employ-
use of the knowledge and skills acquired by young stu-
ment consistent with the higher educational levels achieved
dents throughout their school years. Indeed, the educa-
tional gap between youths occupied in the formal and infor- by youths during the decade.
mal sector is still substantial. In the formal sector, half of the
occupied youths have more than 10 years of schooling,
while only one out of each four youths occupied in the infor- 3. The orientation of the educational
mal sector  has achieved the same level (Annex, Table 7). system
On the other hand, the public sector, where 60% of the
youths have over 10 years of schooling, displays the higher
level of school attendance. It would appear that the Latin Lastly, efforts to keep youths longer within the educational
American formal sector, in spite of its limited professional system should focus on improving their employability. This
proficiency, poses more stringent educational demands approach should encourage Latin American countries to
upon their workers than the informal sector. double their efforts aimed at implementing and improving
initiatives to provide youngsters with an education effec-
D. More and better employment tively focused on employment. In particular, to create ma-
opportunities for youths chinery emphasizing the acquisition of on the job labour
experience in private enterprises and the public sector,
The youths occupational situation may improve only as a substantial component of training and labour place-
through the implementation of substantial changes to the ment programs.
Table 1
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
RATE OF PARTICIPATION BY AGE GROUP AND SEX. 1990-1999
(percentages)
AGE GROUP 1990 1999
Total Men Women  Total    Men Women
15-19 years 48.5 61.3 35.5 46.3 56.2 36.4
20-24 years 68.9 87.7 50.8 71.7 85.9 58.0
15-24 years 58.2 73.9 42.8 58.1 69.9 46.6
Adults 62.7 86.2 41.5 67.8 85.9 51.7
Total 55.6 74.4 37.9 59.4 73.9 46.0
Table 2
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
YOUTHS BY STATUS OF  ACTIVITY AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. 1990-1999
(percentages)
                         SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE
STATUS
OF ACTIVITY        TOTAL              0 to 5                  6 to 9     Over 10 Does not say
1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999
2337
Unemployed 100.0 100.0 29.7 21.0 37.3 42.0 29.5 35.8 2.9 1.7
Men 100.0 100.0 34.6 25.1 38.9 44.2 24.3 29.6 1.5 1.6
Wowen 100.0 100.0 22.3 17.0 34.9 39.9 37.2 41.8 5.0 1.7
First Time 100.0 100.0 17.0 17.4 37.6 44.3 40.5 37.2 3.7 1.6
Laid off 100.0 100.0 35.3 24.0 37.2 40.2 24.6 34.6 2.6 1.7
Table 3
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
SOCIAL INSURANCE COVERAGE BY PRODUCTIVE BRANCH . 1990-1999 a/
(percentages)
AFFILIATES  TO SOME KIND OF SOCIAL SECURITY OR HEALTH SYSTEM
PRODUCTIVE BRANCH         Yes        No Does not say
1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999
NON FARM OCCUPIED 52.5 43.8 46.1 54.4 1.3 1.2
FORMAL 75.2 67.1 24.6 32.6 0.2 0.2
INFORMAL 19.7 16.6 77.3 79.7 3.0 2.4
UNCLASSIFIED 54.7 33.8 45.1 66.1 0.4 0.4
FARM OCCUPIED 7.1 9.3 92.7 90.3 0.3 0.3
TOTAL  OCCUPIED 43.5 38.0 55.4 60.3 1.2 1.1
a/  15 to 24 years of age
Source:  ILO, based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined EAP
represents  78% of the regional total.
Table 4
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
DISTRIBUTION OF THE OCCUPIED BY PRODUCTIVE  BRANCH  AND WORKING HOURS. 1990-1999
(percentages)
                         WORKING HOURS PER WEEK
PRODUCTIVE      TOTAL         1 a 20        21 a 40       41 a 48    49 and over    Does not say
BRANCH 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999       1990     1999
NON  FARM
OCCUPIED 100.0 100.0 6.7 9.8 36.6 32.9 36.7 35.9 18.9 20.5 1.1       0.9
FORMAL 100.0 100.0 5.0 6.7 39.5 34.6 41.1 41.5 13.3 16.2 1.1       1.0
INFORMAL 100.0 100.0 9.0 13.3 32.5 30.9 30.6 29.6 26.9 25.4 1.1       0.8
FARM
OCCUPIED 100.0 100.0 4.6 24.2 33.6 35.1 29.6 22.6 31.0 17.6 1.1       0.6
TOTAL
OCCUPIED 100.0 100.0 6.2 12.4 36.0 33.3 35.3 33.5 21.4 20.0 1.1      0.8
38
Table 5
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
 DISTRIBUTION OF OCCUPIED YOUHTS 15 TO 24 YEARS OF AGE BY
PRODUCTIVE BRANCH AND SHOOL ATTENDANCE. 1990-1999
(percentages)
                             SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE
PRODUCTIVE BRANCH TOTAL 0 to 5 6 to 9 Over 10 Does not say
1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999
NON  FARM
OCCUPIED 100.0 100.0 29.3 18.6 36.8 40.6 31.0 38.0 2.9 2.8
FORMAL 100.0 100.0 24.5 12.1 37.3 36.2 34.3 48.2 3.9 3.4
INFORMAL 100.0 100.0 41.5 25.9 37.9 45.4 18.9 26.7 1.7 2.0
FARM
OCCUPIED 100.0 100.0 78.6 66.0 16.1 25.4 3.9 6.9 1.4 1.7
TOTAL
OCCUPIED 100.0 100.0 38.5 27.2 32.9 37.8 26.0 32.4 2.6 2.6
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined EAP
represents 78% of the regional total.
 Table 6
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EVOLUTION OF THE OCCUPIED BY PRODUCTIVE BRANCH,
AGE AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. 1990-1999
(accumulated growth during the period)
AGE 15 to 24 years 15 to 19 years 20 to 24 years
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 0 to 5 6 to 9 Over 10 0 to 5 6 to 9 Over 10 0 to 5 6 to 9 Over 10
PRODUCTIVE BRANCH
NON FARM
OCCUPIED -36.2 10.8 23.0 -47.6 6.0 8.7 -23.9 15.8 28.5
FORMAL -51.0 -3.4 39.5 -63.4 -9.8 62.8 -40.3 1.9 34.3
INFORMAL -22.3 49.4 76.0 -35.8 46.5 105.6 -4.8 52.7 64.9
FARM
OCCUPIED -18.5 52.9 73.0 -26.5 85.6 125.4 -7.0 19.4 54.5
TOTAL OCCUPIED -29.4 14.7 24.4 -38.9 13.2 11.7 -18.1 16.2 29.3
2339
Table 7
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
DISTRIBUTION OF OCCUPIED YOUTHS  15 TO 19 YEARS OF AGE
BY PRODUCTIVE BRANCH AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.  1990-1999
(percentages)
                        SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
PRODUCTIVE BRANCH TOTAL 0 to 5 6 to 9 Over 10  Does not say
1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999
NON FARM
OCCUPIED 100 100 34.9 20.9 42.9 51.9 20.1 24.9 2.1 2.3
FORMAL 100 100 31.8 13.5 47.9 50.3 17.5 33.1 2.8 3.1
INFORMAL 100 100 47.0 26.4 41.3 53.1 10.4 18.7 1.4 1.8
FARM
OCCUPIED 100 100 82.4 65.0 14.5 28.9 1.8 4.4 1.3 1.8
TOTAL
OCCUPIED 100 100 45.8 31.5 36.4 46.4 15.9 20.0 1.9 2.2
Source:  ILO,  based on Household Surveys conducted in  Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, whose combined
EAP represents 78% of the regional total.
Labour costs of maternity protection
and child care
The higher cost of hiring female labour with respect to female workers’ gross monthly wages in Mexico, 1%
male labour is frequently brought as one of the barriers in Argentina, 1.2% in Brazil and 1.8% in Chile.
women must face in  order to have access to a job,
although women’s wages are lower than men’s (36% •   Such low costs are explained by a low annual
regional average in 1998, Labour Overview 6).  The incidence of pregnancies among wage earners. The
ongoing argument in some circ les is that the wage study shows that the annual proportion of women who
differential between women and men is caused by the are granted maternity leave is  2.8% in Argentina, 3.0%
need to compensate the higher labour costs employers in Brazil, 4.5% in Chile, and 7.5% in Mexico.
incur by hiring women, in accordance with  special laws
to protect maternity and nursing care  (maternity leave, •  The main reason for these low costs for employers is
special work schedules to al low for breast feeding, that cash benefits provided to  female workers during
protection against dismissal, leave to look after a sick maternity leave in the four countries under review are
child). Leave related to family responsibilities which are directly financed with public funds  (Chile) or social
assumed mostly by women are considered additional security systems (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico).  In
these cases, employers’ contributions to social security
40 costs too.22 are unrelated to the number or age of their female
employees. These financial systems seek to secure
The ILO has conducted some research in order to analyse
an essential principle: protecting women against possible
labour costs associated with hiring men and women,
labour discrimination associated with maternity.
pay ing  spec ia l  a t t en t i on  t o  any  cos t s  re l a ted  t o
maternity protection and child care.
• On the other hand, the costs of providing maternity
protection through compensatory funds are not high.
The study was carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Chile
Cash benefits provided to female workers during ma-
and Mexico in the year 2000, involving male and fe-
ternity leave (the so-called maternity salary) directly
male wage earners only.  For the purpose of this analysis,
by the government or through a social security scheme
labour laws aimed at protecting maternity and child care, represent 0.70% in Argentina, 1.11% in Mexico, 1.68%
and safeguards related to certain male and female in Chile and 1.73% in Brazil, as a percentage of total
labour conditions were examined (Table 1b). Besides, female wages for each country.
estimates were developed on the basis of a variety of
sources (demographic and occupational) and records •  On the other hand, expenditures generated by nurs-
on the number of maternity leaves were reviewed, ery care are the most important component of the
whenever possible. amount of direct costs for employers  hiring women in
Chile and Argentina: 1.3% and 0.8% of gross monthly
The results of the analysis are as follows: wages, respectively. In Mexico, this item does not con-
stitute a direct cost for the employer, since it is covered
•  Direct costs in cash for employers derived from hiring by the same system of health and cash  benefits related
women under current labour law are low: 0.2% of the to maternity.
Table 1b
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
MATERNITY PROTECTION AND CHILD CARE LEGISLATION
Argentina  Brazil    Chile     Mexico ILO Convention 183
Maternity leave  (weeks) 12 16 18 12 14
Proportion of  wages paid during 100% 100% 100% 100%  2/3 minimum
maternity leave
Health benefits up to delivery Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Prohibition of dismissal  during Up to 7.5 Up to 5 Up until 12 No legal Except for reasons un-
pregnancy, maternity leave and an months after months after months after the regulation related to the pregnancy,
extra period after the return to work delivery delivery completion of the delivery and nursing; the
maternity leave burden of proof shall rest
on the employer
Health protection  of the pregnant Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
woman  and her child
Breastfeeding  (one hour per day); Up to the Up until the Up until the Up until the According
counted as working time and child’s first child is 6 child is 2 child is 6 to  national
remunerated accordingly. birthday months old years old months old legislation
Right to day-care center No legal In enterprises In enterprises Children of female Not included
regulation with 29 and with 20 and workers who contri-
provision more women more women bute to social security 23
Maternity  and paternity leave to take No No Yes No Not included
care of sick child/children
Source: ILO, based on the labour legislation of the four countries under review.
Box 4
ILO CONVENTION NO. 183 CONCERNING  MATERNITY PROTECTION
The preamble of the Maternity Protection Convention (revised) •   Maternity leave up to at least 14 weeks, 6 of which are
No.183, adopted by the International Labour Conference on June mandatory after childbirth; each member shall examine periodi-
15, 2000, states that protecting pregnancy is a shared responsi- cally the appropriateness of extending the total period of leave.
bility of governments and society and a fundamental aspect of
promoting equality of opportunities between men and women, •   Cash benefits to women who are absent from work during the
according to various International Conventions adopted on this maternity leave, shall not be less than two-thirds of the woman’s
matter. It also mentions the need to recognize the diversity  in previous earnings.
social and economic development of the ILO Member States
and the diversity of enterprises,  and the development of  the •   Right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours
protection of maternity  national law and practice. of work to breastfeed.
The Convention includes the following provisions, among •  Protection against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity
others: leave, as well as during an extra period of time following the
return of the employee to work, according to national labour •   Any contribution due under compulsory social insurance
laws except for reasons unrelated to pregnancy, child-birth providing maternity benefits and any tax based upon pay-
and its consequences on nursing, breastfeeding, with the bur- rolls which is raised for the purpose of providing such ben-
den of proof  on the employer. efits, whether paid by both the employer and the employees
or by the employer, should be paid in respect of the total
•   In order to protect women in the labour market, medical and number of men and women employed, without distinction of
cash benefits related to maternity should be provided through a sex.
compensatory social insurance or public funds or in a manner
determined by national law and practice. An employer shall •   Health protection of pregnant or nursing women (ban on
not be individually liable for the direct cost of any such cash performing tasks that may be harmful to the health of the
benefit to a woman employed by him/her without that agree- mother or the child).
ment, except where it is provided by the national law and prac-
tice in a Member State before the date of adoption of this Con- •   Mandatory adoption of measures to guarantee that mater-
vention, or it is subsequently agreed at the national level by nity would not become grounds for  labour discrimination, in-
governments and the representative organizations of workers cluding access to employment (ban against pregnancy tests
and employers. previous to hiring, among others).
1. Financing benefits related to maternity Moreover, benefits provided in Argentina to a worker on
242 protection and child care maternity leave are not considered wages but allow-
ances, which means that the contribution of the employer
The purpose of the various systems establ ished in and “the end-of-the year” bonus (“aguinaldo”) go unac-
Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico to finance maternity counted for. Thus, an enterprise may hire a male or
leave is to secure a fundamental social principle: protect- female replacement without the burden of these addi-
ing women against possible labour discrimination because tional monetary costs.
of maternity, according to the spirit of ILO conventions on
Maternity Protection (Table 1b). In Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, medical benefits pro-
vided to a worker throughout her pregnancy and deliv-
 In Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, as well as in the ery are financed by social insurance, through the same
great majority of the Latin American countries, the mater- system that guarantees maternity leave coverage. In
nity leave is financed through a compensatory system these three cases, the contributions made by the em-
that does not represent an additional cost to the employer ployer are unrelated to the sex or age of the workers;
at the time of hiring a woman. In Chile, the maternity leave therefore, they do not have a differentiated incidence on
is directly financed by the government by means of a pub- male and female labour costs.  In Chile, these benefits
lic fund.  In Argentina and Brazil, financing is provided by do not represent a burden on the government or social
social insurance systems which collect employers’ con- security, because they are covered through a health in-
tributions. In Mexico, financing is provided on a tripartite surance system directly financed by the contributions of
basis: employers, insured workers (regardless of sex) affiliated female workers.
and government.  In all the three cases where maternity
leave is financed by social insurance, employer’s contri- In Argentina, Brazil and Chile, day-care centers repre-
butions are unrelated to the number or age of the women sent a direct cost to the employer, which is proportional to
hired by each employer. the number of women employed by him/her and the
Table 2b
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
EMPLOYER LABOUR COSTS:
MATERNITY  PROTECTION AND CHILD CARE. 2000
(gross monthly wages =100)
Argentina Brazi l Chile Mexico
Gross wages a/ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Maternity and
child care costs 0.95 1.15 1.83 0.18
Day-care center 0.77 0.27 1.27 0.0
Nursing /feeding  /a 0.12 0.79 0.48 0.09
Replacement costs b/ 0.06 0.09 0.08 0.09
Employer’s average
cost 100.95 101.15 101.83 100.18
Source: ILO, based on:
Argentina. Household Permanent Survey, Social Development Survey conducted by the Sistema de Información, Monitoreo y Evaluación de Programas Sociales (SIEMPRO),vital
statistics and statistics from the Administración Nacional de Seguridad Social (ANSES). The information generated by the Sistema Integrado de Jubilaciones y Pensiones
(SIJyP) is not yet available.
Brazil. PNAD, RAIS and records on  maternity leaves paid by the Ministerio de Previdencia y Asistencia Social in 1998.
Chile. Vital statistics and the Encuesta de caracterización socioeconómica (CASEN) in 1998.
Mexico. INEGI’s National Education,Training and Employment Survey (1997) and records of the Instituto Mexicano de Seguridad Social (IMSS), 1999.
a/ Gross wages include legal allowances provided by employers; they are part of contributive wages.
b/ Correspond to additional costs  the employer must pay to the replacement worker; proportional vacation time in all four countries, plus the “end-of-the-year” bonus in Brazil
and Mexico, plus the Guarantee Fund for Time Served (Fondo de Garantía por Tiempo de Servicio, FGTS) and an additional vacation plus in Brazil.
duration of the benefit.  Lastly, day-care centers are fi- feeding, replacement costs related to the worker on mater- 243
nanced in  Mexico by the Inst i tu to  Mexicano de nity leave.
Seguridad Social, along with medical services and ma-
ternity leave. Additional direct costs in cash for the employer associated
with hiring women under current labour law are very low
2. Composition and scope of labour costs (0.2% of the women workers’ gross wages in Mexico, 0.9%
to employers associated with maternity pro- in Argentina, 1.2% in Brazil and 1.8% in Chile (Table 2b),
tection and child care because maternity leave benefits in cash are directly
covered by government (Chile) or social insurance
The scope of the study includes female waged workers, ex- (Mexico, Argentina and Brazil).
cluding domestic service.  Only  costs resulting from the
enforcement of social and labour law in this area were taken Low costs are also related to a moderate annual incidence of
into account, disregarding other possible components or ad- pregnancies in line with a declining fertility  rate in the coun-
ditional  amounts derived from processes of collective bar- tries under review, in particular among employed women.
gaining  on human resource policies adopted by some en- According to the study, the proportion of salaried female work-
terprises. ers who go on maternity leave per year , is as follows: 2.8%
in Argentina, 3.0% in Brazil, 4.5% in Chile and 7.5% in
On the basis of the number of maternity leaves granted in Mexico.
1999 (according to available records or estimates based
on more general demographic and occupational data), a These percentages would increase by taking into account
list of the different components of labour costs directly the segment of fertile salaried female workers (20 to 40
related to  maternity protection and chi ld care was years of age), which represents 3.1% in Argentina, 3.4%
made; i.e. expenditures for day-care centers, nursing / in Brazil, 5.0% in Chile and 8.4% in Mexico.  These figures
indicate that hiring fertile women in that age group would Finally, direct costs in cash to replace women on
indeed result in higher labour costs. Yet, these would con- maternity leave are under 0.1% of her gross wage: 0.06%
tinue to be too low to become an obstacle in favor of young in Argentina, 0.08% in Chile and 0.09% in Brazil and
women and adult women over 40 years of age. Mexico.  In all four countries under review, such costs
are related to proportional vacation time due to a male/
On the other hand, while cash benefits related to maternity female replacement; in Mexico and Brazil a proportion of
leave do not represent a direct cost for employers that are the “end-of-the-year” bonus must be added, and lastly, but
willing to hire women, they represent a cost which is di- only in Brazil, a few other benefits such as a vacation plus
rectly financed by  the government  or  a social insurance and the Fondo de Garantía por Tiempo de Servicio
scheme (either financed  with  tripartite resources or  solely (FGTS) must be taken into account too.
by  employers). An estimate of these costs conducted in
the countries under review provided the following results: Maybe there is an indirect cost to replace a woman on
0.70% in Argentina, 1.73% in Brazil, 1.68% in Chile and maternity leave that shows up in certain issues of produc-
1.11% in Mexico as a proportion of the total wages of tivity and organization of the work process. However, like
registered female workers. As a proportion of the total in the case of male and female absenteeism, no reliable
wages of female salaried workers (registered and un- evidence is available to estimate this aspect on an objec-
registered), these costs represent 0.56% in Argentina, tive basis.
1.5% in Chile and 1.02% in Mexico. Lastly, as a propor-
tion of the total salaried of all registered salaried workers To summarize, direct monetary costs to the employer
(men and women), they represent 0.22% in Argentina, associated with hiring women under current labour law
0.64% in Brazil, 0.43% in Chile and  0.33% in Mexico. are small.  This is both the outcome of a modest annual
incidence of pregnancies among salaried workers and
4224 Expenditures for day-care facilities are the most impor- the fact that the costs in question are directly financed
tant component of the direct costs to the employer associ- either by government or a social security system. As
ated with hiring a woman in Chile and Argentina: 1.3% indicated, the contributions are unrelated to sex, age or
and 0.8% of the female worker’s gross wages, respec- the number of children belonging to the family of the wage-
tively. In Mexico, this item does not represent a direct earner contributor.  These features indicate that the effec-
cost to the employer, since it is a service provided by the tive costs associated to hiring women are higher than those
social security system and financed through contributions registered by the enterprises, since employers cover just
of a tripartite nature, like the medical and cash benefits part of them, while the rest is financed by society at large
related to maternity, the employer’s contributions are un- to prevent the creation of an additional source of discrimi-
related to the sex or age of employed workers. This ex- nation.
plains why direct labour costs associated with maternity
protection and child care are lower in Mexico than in the
other three countries under review.
Unlike medical benefits related to pregnancy, delivery and
nursing, expenditures linked to day-care services should
not be associated only with working women.  As much as
in other cases (due to processes of collective bargaining
or management policies seeking to conciliate work with
family life) this benefit should be associated with both par-
ents; i.e., male and female workers with family responsi-
bilities, according to the spirit of the ILO Convention No.
156 (workers with family responsibilities).
Working conditions:
Labour risks coverage and working hours
Improved working conditions are beneficial to workers, used to be optional or individual, into mandatory insur-
entrepreneurs and society at large. Enterprises that en- ance of a social nature; 2) incorporate risk prevention into
sure safe working conditions throughout adequate hours the work place as a fundamental notion, and guarantee
of work help to increase their productivity and competi- both medical treatment and monetary compensation by
tiveness, as well as to enhance the well-being of work- means of employment accident benefits; 3) expanding
ers and their families.  The following section is devoted insurance coverage to new categories of workers beyond
to examine the evolution of the labour situation with re- dependent industrial  workers, as used to be at its inception.
spect to risk prevention and the working day in selected
Latin American countries, including some comparisons Labour risk coverage is a critical problem in Latin
with current conditions in developed countries. America and the Caribbean, due to very low and highly
heterogeneous levels of coverage region wide. In only
There are different types of labour safety and three out of eleven comparable countries the proportion
health protection systems.  An assumption shared of the employed covered by risk insurance is over 50%:
by all of them is that workers may suffer accidents and Panama (66%), Chile (64%) and Costa Rica (55%). In
that the responsibility falls on the employer, who may the Southern Cone, from the selected countries, cover-
delegate it in different ways. 2435
age reaches 40% of the occupied population in Brazil,
35% in Argentina and a meager 9 % in Paraguay (Table 1c).
Some systems are based on the individual responsibil-
ity of the employer and may or may not require manda-
In Central America, the proportion of the work force con-
tory insurance. Therefore, each enterprise chooses par-
tributing to social security schemes varies widely. In
ticular options, such as taking insurance with profit or
Costa Rica and Panama, is over 50%; in Guatemala is
non-profit public or private institutions. At the beginning
under  a  th i rd  and in  E l  Sa lvador,  Honduras and
of the industrial revolution, this approach created the need
Nicaragua is slightly over a fifth of the total work force.
to provide protection.
Central American countries must improve current con-
Other systems are based on the notion of collective re- ditions in this area, taking into account that social secu-
sponsibility and operate as social security schemes, rity coverage in the developed countries reaches 86%.
which is the prevailing trend in the different countries in
the 1990s, including the Latin American nations. This Besides, labour risk coverage in Latin America go from
kind of insurance may be restricted to covering specific minimum levels of protection, medical services and/or
labour hazards, or be part of a country’s social security monetary benefits for the disabled, to high levels of pro-
system.  For example, employers may share the re- tection, including risk prevention in the design of pro-
sponsibility within a mutual benefit society. ductive processes and active participation of workers and
employers at the enterprise level. Due to the patchy quality
In Latin America, where legislation in this field was en- of employment and of the social security systems region
acted in many countries a very long time ago, important wide, protection covers a large number of situations. The
changes have been taking place in the last few years in highest levels of protection continue to be reserved to
order to: 1) turn an insurance system that in most cases workers occupied in large modern enterprises.
Table 1c
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
LABOUR RISK COVERAGE
COUNTRIES coverage of occupied Coverage system
 workers (% )
Argentina a/ 35 Mandatory social insurance for dependent workers  (1996),
exclusive, private profit managed by Labour Risk Insurance Companies
Brazil b/ 40 Social insurance incorporated into social security (1991), non
exclusive, mandatory for workers under  a general regime of social
security, and optional for workers under a complementary regime of
social security and provident fund
Chile c/ 64 Mandatory social insurance for dependent workers  (1968),
exclusive, private non-profit management (through mutual benefit
societies) or public management   (provident fund)
Paraguay 9 Social insurance incorporated into the social security system
Colombia 31 Social insurance (1994), exclusive, mandatory for dependent
4226
workers, for profit private management through labour risk
insurance companies or public management
Costa Rica d/ 55 Social insurance incorporated into social security, exclusive, National
Insurance Institute
El Salvador 22 Included in the social security system
Guatemala 30 Included in the social security system; does not distinguish  labour from
non-labour accidents
Honduras 22 Included in the social security system
Nicaragua 20 Included in the social security system
Panama 66 Included in the Social Insurance Institute; exclusive.
Source:  ILO, based on official country information from reports filed by consultants.
a/ 1998 (Rodríguez, C; 2000)
b/ Number of workers insured by the social security system and covered by a Labour Accident Insurance system (SAT)
c/ 1998 (Rodríguez, C; 2000,  Echeverría,  M; 2000)
d/ Labour risk insurance only;  85% of the employed contribute to the National Insurance Institute.
As far as the working hours are concerned, recent labour market adjustment implemented during the Asian
ILO documents indicate that the number of working crisis: less employment and new hiring practices re-
hours, while being an important indicator in terms of life sulted in a smaller number of actual working hours.
quality, should be examined along with productivity and
other factors such as compensation, unemployment, A shrinking working week is a feature shared by all the
technological development, social benefits, labour security countries, except for Panama and Peru. The number of
and even cultural attitudes towards work and leisure time. actual working hours increased from 41.7 in 1990 to
Besides, new work schedules arranged according with 42.3 in 1999 in Panama, and from 47.9 to 51 in Peru
the evolution of both the economy and society are being during the same period.
introduced, as well as the notion that new ways to organize
working hours represent a tool to promote employment The average number of hours actually worked  by the
and increase employment quality. However, this approach employed  region wide decreased from 1,842 in 1990 to
led to longer workdays in some countries. 1,758 in 1999 (Table 3c). The figures for some of the
countries under review are as follows: Brazil, 1,568;
The following is an analysis of working hours in a se- Panama 1,610; Nicaragua 1,943 and Peru 2,091.
lected group of Latin American countries,  on the basis
of the legal number of  working hours per  week, against Comparison against the most developed industrial econo-
the number of actually  worked hours, plus regional trends mies indicates that the average US worker puts the high-
during the decade (Table 2c), and an  analysis of actu- est number of working hours per year: almost 2,000 per
ally worked hours per year against the ones worked in capita in 1997, followed by the Japanese with 1,898 in
most of the developed industrial economies. 1995. The number of working hours per year in the European
Union has been remarkably smaller than in the US, Japan 2437
A 48-hours working week is the standard in most Latin and Latin American and Caribbean countries throughout
American and Caribbean countries (Argentina, Bolivia, several decades, and continues to decline on a consistent
Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica and Panama, among oth- basis. In Scandinavian countries such as Norway and
ers). A group of 6 countries, including Brazil, Venezuela, Sweden, workers put 1,399 and 1,552 hours in 1997,
Guatemala and Honduras, has a 44-hours working respectively. In France, where the working week was
week. The shortest working week (40 hours) is to be reduced to 35 hours, workers put 1,656 hours per capita
found in Ecuador and Jamaica (Table 2c). in 1997, while the annual average in Germany was below
1,560 hours per capita in the second half of the last
A 40-hours working week prevails over most of Europe, decade.
with two significant exceptions: France’ 35-hours work-
ing week and Italy’ 48-hours working week. The United
States and Japan also have a 40-hours working week.
The amount of actually worked hours in 1999 ranged
from 41 to 43 hours in Brazil, Panama, Uruguay and
Venezuela; 44 to 46 in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico, and 47 to 51 in Colombia,
Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru.
Region wide, the working week experienced a reduction
from an average of 44.9 hours in 1990 to 44.2 hours in
1997 and 42.8 in 1999. These figures show that the de-
cline of actually worked hours was influenced by the
Table 2c
LATIN AMERICA:  SELECTED COUNTRIES
WORKING WEEK. 1990, 1997 AND 1999
(number of hours)
COUNTRY            Weekly working hours         Legal working week
1990 1997 1999 Number of hours
40 44                   48
Argentina 49.1 49.2 44.4 •
Brazil 43.8 42.9 41.2 •
Chile 48.4 46.5 46.4 •
Colombia (1) 48.2 47.8 46.6 •
Costa Rica 45.4 45.5 45.6 •
Ecuador (2) 43.2 47.4 46.9 •
El Salvador (3) 47.3 44.9 45.1 •
Honduras 45.3 44.0 44.3 •
4228
Mexico 43.1 43.8 44.2 •
Nicaragua (4) 46.3 47.0 47.4 •
Panama 41.7 42.7 42.3 •
Paraguay (5) 49.5 46.1 •
Peru (6) 47.9 48.9 51.0 •
Uruguay 43.6 42.5 42.0 • •
Venezuela 42.5 40.8 •
Arithmetic average    - 42.5 40.8
Weighted average (7) 44.9 44.2 42.8
Source:  ILO, based on data about regular working hours per week, derived from Household Surveys conducted in the countries under review
(1)  1991, 1995 and 1999. (2)  1990, 1995 and 1998.
(3)  1990, 1997 and 1998. (4)  1993, 1997 and 1999.
(5)  1990 and 1997-98. (6)   1991, 1997 and 1998.
(7)  Based on the EAP
Table 3C
LATIN AMERICA : SELECTED COUNTRIES
WORKING  HOURS PER YEAR. 1990, 1997 AND 1999
(number of hours)
COUNTRY                      Working Hours per year
1990 1997 1999
Argentina 2,013 2,017 1,820
Brazil 1,796 1,759 1,689
Chile  1,984 1,906 1,902
Colombia (1) 1,976 1,960 1,911
Costa Rica 1,861 1,866 1,870
Ecuador (2) 1,771 1,943 1,923
El Salvador (3) 1,939 1,841 1,849
Honduras 1,857 1,804 1,816 2439
Mexico 1,767 1,796 1,812
Nicaragua (4) 1,788 1,927 1,943
Panama 1,710 1,751 1,734
Paraguay (5) 2,029     - 1,890
Peru (6) 1,964 2,005 2,091
Uruguay 1,788 1,743 1,722
Venezuela     - 1,743 1,673
Arithmetic average 1,875 1,862 1,843
Weighted average (7) 1,842 1,815 1,758
Source:  ILO, based on data derived from Household Surveys conducted in the countries under review.
(1)  1991, 1995 and 1999. (2)  1990, 1995 and 1998.
(3)  1990, 1997 and 1998. (4)  1993, 1997 and 1999.
(5)  1990, 1997  and 1998. (6)  1991, 1997 and 1998.
(7)  Based on the EAP
NOTE:  To find out the number of working weeks per year, Sundays (52) and half-day Saturdays (26) (equivalent  to 41 work weeks per year in each country,
were not taken into account. The total number of work hours per year is achieved by multiplying that figure by the number of regular working hours per
week (Table 2c)
22
Statistical Annex
23
22
TABLE 1-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: OPEN URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT. 1985-2000
(Average annual rates)
Country 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1999 2000
Up to the third quarter m/
Argentina a/   6.1   7.5   6.5   7.0   9.6 11.5 17.5 17.3 14.9 12.9 14.3 14.5 15.4
Bolivia a/   5.7   7.2   5.9   5.5   5.9   3.1   3.6   4.0   4.3   4.1   7.5  …  …
Brazil b/   5.3   4.3   4.8   4.9   5.4   5.1   4.6   5.4   5.7   7.6   7.6   7.7   7.5
Chile c/ 17.0   7.4   7.1   6.2   6.4   7.8   6.6   5.4   5.3   6.4   9.8 10.1   9.2
Colombia d/ 13.8 10.5 10.2 10.2   8.6   8.9   8.8 11.2 12.4 15.2 19.4 19.8 20.4
Costa Rica a/   7.2   5.4   6.0   4.3   4.0   4.3   5.7   6.6   5.9   5.4   6.2   6.2   5.2  o/
Dominican
Republic   …   … 19.6 20.3 19.9 16.0 15.8 16.5 15.9 14.3 13.8 13.8  …
Ecuador a/ 10.4   6.1   8.5   8.9   8.9   7.8   7.7 10.4   9.3  11.5  15.1 15.0 14.9
El Salvador a/   ... 10.0   7.5   6.8   ...   7.0   7.0   5.8   7.5   7.6   8.0   8.0   7.0
Honduras a/ 11.7   6.9   7.1   5.1   5.6   4.0   6.6   6.6   5.2   5.8   5.2   5.2  …
Mexico e/   4.4   2.8   2.7   2.8   3.4   3.7   6.2   5.5   3.7   3.2   2.5   2.6   2.3
Nicaragua a/   3.2   7.6   ... 14.4 17.8 17.1 16.9 16.0 16.5 15.5 15.7 15.7  …
Panama f/ 15.7 20.0 20.0 18.2 15.6 15.8 16.4 16.9 15.4 15.5 13.6 13.0 13.3  o/
Paraguay g/   5.1   6.6   5.1   5.3   5.1   4.4   5.3   8.2   7.1   6.6   9.4   8.8  …
Peru h/ 10.1   8.3   5.9   9.4   9.9   8.8   7.9   7.9   8.4   8.2   8.3   8.7 10.3  n/ 533
Uruguay i/ 13.1   9.2   8.9   9.0   8.4   9.2 10.8 12.3 11.6 10.2 11.8 11.9 13.3
Venezuela a/ 14.3 11.0 10.1   8.1   6.8   8.9 10.3 11.8 11.4 11.3 14.9 15.3 14.6  o/
Latin America  j/ 10.1   8.2   8.5   8.3   8.2   7.8   8.8   9.3   8.5   9.5 10.8 12.2 12.3
                      k/   8.3   5.7   5.6   5.7   6.1   6.3   7.2   7.7   7.2   8.2   8.8   9.0   8.9
The Caribbean l/
Barbados 18.7 15.0 17.3 23.0 24.3 21.9 19.7 15.6 14.5 12.3 10.4 10.4  9.3  p/
Jamaica 25.0 15.3 15.7 15.4 16.3 15.4 16.2 16.0 16.5 15.5 15.9 15.7 15.8  p/
Trinidad and Tobago 15.7 20.0 18.5 19.6 19.8 18.4 17.2 16.2 15.0 14.2 13.1 13.1 12.8  n/
Source:  ILO, based on country Household Surveys
a/ National urban. j/ Arithmethic average.
b/ Six metropolitan regions. Average January-September 2000. k/ Weighted average.
c/ Country total . Fourth quarter of each year. Third quarter of 2000. l/ Caribbean countries use a different methodology to measure open unemployment.
d/ Seven metropolitan areas . Annual average from 1985  to 1999. m/ Average for the first three quarters.
2000 January -September average. n/ Metropolitan Lima First quarter.
e/ 39 urban areas . o/ First semester.
f/ National urban. p/ Second quarter.
g/ Asuncion.
h/ Metropolitan Lima . National urban since 1996.
i/ Montevideo.
TABLE  2-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: UNEMPLOYMENT BY SEX. 1990 - 2000
(Annual rates )
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Latin America
Argentina a/   7.3   5.8   6.7  10.1 12.1 18.8 18.4 15.7 12.9 15.1 16.0
Men   7.4   5.6   6.5   8.5 10.7 16.5 16.8 13.4 12.2 16.9 17.6
Women   7.3   6.2   7.1  12.7 14.5 22.3 20.9 19.2 15.2 13.8 14.8
Bolivia b/   7.2   5.9   5.5   5.9   3.1   3.6   4.2   4.4   …   …   …
Men   6.8   5.7   5.5   6.5   3.4   3.3   3.9   …   …   …   …
Women   7.8   6.3   5.6   5.3   2.9   4.0   4.5   …   …   …   …
Brazil c/   4.3   4.8   4.9   5.4   5.1   4.6   5.4   5.7   7.6   7.7   7.5
Men   …   4.8   5.6   5.2   4.8   4.5   5.0   5.3   7.1   7.1   6.8
Women   …   4.9   6.0   5.6   5.5   4.8   6.1   6.3   8.3   8.3   8.6
Chile d/   7.4   7.1   6.2   6.4   7.8   6.6   5.4   5.3   6.4   9.7   9.2
Men   6.6   6.1   5.0   5.3   6.5   5.5   4.8   4.7   5.7   9.3   8.7
Women   9.2   9.4   8.9   8.8 10.3   8.9   6.7   6.6   7.6 10.5 10.2
Colombia e/ 11.0 10.8 11.2   9.1   9.9   9.0 11.6 13.4 15.9 19.9 20.4
Men   8.3   7.8   8.1   6.5   6.8   6.8   9.2 10.5 12.9  17.1 17.1
Women 14.7 14.8 15.0 12.7 14.0 12.1 14.8 16.9 19.5 23.2 24.2
Costa Rica b/   5.4   6.0   4.3   4.0   4.3   5.7   6.5   5.9   5.4   6.0   5.2
524 Men   4.9   1.8   1.2   0.9   3.8   5.4   6.0   5.4   4.6   4.9   4.4
Women   6.2 13.3   9.9   9.7   5.1   6.2   7.6   6.8   6.7   8.2   6.9
Dominican
Republic b/   ... 19.6 20.3 19.9 16.0 15.8 16.7 15.9 14.3   …   …
Men   ... 12.5 11.7 11.4 10.0 10.2 10.2   …   …   …   …
Women   ... 33.1 34.9 34.8 26.9 26.2 28.7   …   …   …   …
Ecuador b/   6.1   8.1   8.9   8.3   7.1   6.9 10.4   9.3   8.5   …   …
Men   4.3   5.4   6.0   6.2   5.8   5.5   …   7.4   …   …   …
Women   9.1 13.2 13.2 11.5   9.3   8.8   … 12.1   …   …   …
El Salvador b/   9.9   7.5   8.7   9.9   7.7   7.6   7.7   7.5   7.6   8.0   7.0
Men  10.1   8.3   9.0 11.8   8.4   8.7   8.4   9.0   9.6   9.9   8.5
Women   9.8   6.6   8.3   6.8   6.4   5.9   6.5   5.5   6.1   5.8   4.6
Honduras b/   6.9   7.1   5.1   5.6   4.0   6.6   6.6   5.2   5.8   3.7   …
Men   9.6 13.1   9.8   5.9   5.9 10.7 11.8   5.9   6.3   3.7   …
Women   5.2   4.1   3.0   5.1   3.1   4.1   4.4   4.3   5.1   3.8   …
Mexico f/   2.7   2.7   2.8   3.4   3.7   6.3   5.5   3.7   3.3   2.5   2.3
Men   2.6   2.5   2.7   3.2   3.6   6.1   5.3   3.5   3.0   2.4   2.2
Women   3.0   2.9   3.2   3.9   4.0   6.5   5.9   4.2   3.7   2.6   2.5
Panama g/   … 20.0 18.2 15.6 15.8 16.4 17.0 15.4 15.5 11.6 15.2
Men   ... 12.8 10.8   9.7 10.7 10.8 11.0 13.3 12.4   8.8 13.0
Women   … 22.6 22.3 20.2 20.4 20.1 20.0 18.2 19.7 16.7 18.6
TABLE 2-A (Continued)
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: UNEMPLOYMENT BY SEX. 1990 - 1999
(Annual rates)
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Paraguay h/   6.6   5.1   5.3   5.1   4.4   5.6   9.2   6.4 13.9   …   …
Men   6.6   5.4   6.4   5.5   4.9   5.5   9.1   4.7 11.1   …   …
Women   6.5   4.7   3.8   4.5   3.7   5.7   9.3   8.2 17.7   …   …
Peru i/   8.5   5.8   9.4   9.9   8.8   7.9   7.9   8.4   8.2   8.3 10.3
Men   6.5   4.8   7.5   8.4   7.0   6.0   7.2   7.1   6.4   7.6 10.0
Women 11.4   7.3 12.5 12.2 11.8   8.7   9.1 10.1   9.6   9.2 10.8
Uruguay j/   9.2   8.9   9.0   8.4   9.2 10.8 12.4 11.6 10.2 11.8 13.3
Men   7.3   7.1   6.7   6.3   6.9   8.4 10.5   9.2   8.1   9.8 10.7
Women 11.8 11.3 11.9 11.0 12.0 13.7 14.5 14.5 12.7 14.0 16.3
Venezuela b/ 11.0 10.1   8.1   6.8   8.9 10.3 11.8 11.4 11.3 14.9 14.6
Men 11.4   9.5   8.1   7.1   8.2   8.9 10.3 10.3   9.9 13.6 14.0
Women 10.4   8.6   5.9   5.5   9.6 12.9 14.5 14.2 13.6 17.1 15.9
The Caribbean l/
Barbados 15.0 17.3 23.0 24.3 21.9 19.7 15.6 14.5 12.3 10.4   9.3
Men 10.1 13.2 20.2 21.3 17.6 16.5 12.4 11.3   8.4   7.7   7.4
Women 20.3 21.4 26.1 27.7 26.4 23.0 18.9 17.8 16.4 13.3 11.5 535
Jamaica 15.3 15.4 15.7 16.3 15.4 16.2 16.0 16.5 15.5   …   …
Hombres   9.1   9.4   9.5 10.9   9.6 10.8   9.9 10.6 10.0   …   …
Mujeres 20.4 22.2 22.8 22.4 21.8 22.5 23.0 23.5 22.1   …   …
Trinidad and Tobago 20.0 18.5 19.6 19.8 18.4 17.2 16.2 15.0 14.2   …   …
Men 17.8 15.7 17.0 17.6 16.1 15.1 13.2 12.3 11.3   …   …
Women 24.2 23.4 23.9 23.4 22.3 20.6 21.0 19.4 18.9   …   …
Source:  ILO, based on country Household Surveys.
a/ Greater Buenos Aires. May 2000 surveys. g/ Metropolitan region. Data for September 2000.
b/ National urban. h/ Asuncion.
c/ Six metropolitan areas.  June 2000. i/ Metropolitan Lima. National urban since 1996.
d/ National total.  October-December of each year. j/ Montevideo. Average January-September 2000.
e/ Seven metropolitan areas . June of each year. l/ Caribbean countries use a different methodology to measure open unemployment.
f/ 43 urban areas.Third quarter 2000.
TABLE  3-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT. 1990 - 2000
( Annual rates)
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Latin America
Argentina a/
15-19 21.7 16.3 16.4 26.8 32.3 46.6 44.3 39.7 35.0 35.9 45.0
15-24 15.2 12.3 13.0   ... 21.2 30.1 31.1 27.2 24.4 26.4   …
Bolivia b/
10-19 13.3 13.1   8.3   8.6   4.9   5.0   7.0   …   …   …   …
20-29   9.5   7.3   7.0   8.2   4.5   5.4   …   …   …   …   …
Brazil c/
15-17   … 11.6 14.4 12.2 11.9 11.0 13.0 14.3 18.8 17.8 17.8
18-24   …   9.1 11.2 10.3   9.6   9.3 10.5 11.4 14.0 14.5 14.7
Chile d/
15-19 15.9 13.7 12.6 13.0 16.8 15.8 15.0 19.9 20.8 27.6 26.0
20-24 12.0 12.4 10.3 10.2 11.9 10.1 12.2 13.6 15.1 19.8 20.1
Colombia e/
12-17   … 25.9 22.5 26.6 25.7 23.3 26.1 32.8 35.4 37.9 41.3
18-24   … 20.8 21.4 17.4 18.9 18.2 22.0 26.1 29.5 35.7 35.8
Costa Rica f/
12-24 10.4 14.1   9.3 10.2   9.8 13.5 13.9 13.1 12.8   …   …
Ecuador f/
15-24 13.5 18.5 17.3 15.7 14.9 15.3 20.0 19.4 22.6   …   …
El Salvador f/
15-24 18.6 14.6 14.3 14.4 13.5 13.3 13.1 14.6 15.0   …   …
Honduras f/
526 10-24 10.7 12.3   6.6   9.7   6.7 10.2   9.7   8.7 10 .0   …   …
Mexico g/
     12-19   7.0   5.0   6.9   7.3   8.3 13.1 11.5   8.4 7.0 5.7   5.7
20-24   …   …   4.4   5.7   6.0   9.9   8.8   6.5 5.9 4.5   4.2
Panama h/
15-24   … 38.8 37.0 31.6 31.1 31.9 34.8 31.5 31.7 29.5   …
Paraguay i/
15-19 18.4   9.0 14.1   9.8 12.3 10.8 29.1 13.7   …   …   …
20-24 14.1   9.5   7.3   8.8   5.5   7.8 12.6 12.7   …   …   …
Peru j/
14-24 15.4 11.2 15.8 16.1 13.7 11.2 14.9 14.5 14.1 14.2 18.2
Uruguay k/
14-24 26.6 25.0 24.4 23.3 25.5 25.5 28.0 26.8 26.1 27.1 30.5
Venezuela l/
15-24 18.0 15.8 13.4 13.0 15.9 19.9 25.4 23.1 21.9 26.6 28.0
The Caribbean m/
Barbados
15-24   ... 33.8 36.4 43.2 41.7 37.8 27.5 28.9 27.4  21.8 18.4
Jamaica
15-24 30.7 29.2 28.3 29.5 28.9 34.1 34.4 34.2   …   …   …
Trinidad and Tobago
15-24 36.4 34.2 34.8 38.9 39.9 31.0 28.5 35.3 25.8 23.7   …
Source:  ILO, based on country Household Surveys.
a/ Greater Buenos Aires. May 2000. h/ Metropolitan region. March 1999.
b/ National urban. 1996 (15-25 years of age). i/ Asuncion.
c/ Six metropolitan areas. j/ Metropolitan Lima. National urban since 1996 . First quarter 1999.
d/ National total . k/ Montevideo. Average January-September 2000.
e/ Seven metropolitan areas , June of each year. l/ Urban national.
f/ National urban. m/ Caribbean countries use a different methodology to measure open unemployment.
g/ 41 urban areas.
TABLE  4-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: URBAN PARTICIPATION RATES. 1990 - 2000 a/
(Percentages)
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Latin America
Argentina b/ 40.6 40.9 41.6 43.8 43.3 45.1 44.2 42.2 42.2 42.6 42.4
Bolivia 51.2 51.5 50.6 52.6 53.7 55.0 56.5 52.5   …   …  …
Brazil c/ 63.8 61.1 59.5 58.7 59.3 59.3 59.6 58.5 58.2 57.1 58.1
Chile d/ 53.0 53.0 54.3 56.0 56.0 54.9 54.5 54.4 55.1 54.4 53.9
Colombia e/ 58.4 59.5 60.8 60.1 60.0 59.9 59.7 59.9 62.2 63.1 64.2
Costa Rica 53.2 51.8 50.4 51.7 53.3 54.5 52.2 53.8 55.3 54.8 53.4
Dominican Republic   f/   … 55.0 58.9 57.4 53.3 51.9 53.2   …   …   …  …
Ecuador g/ 52.3 56.8 58.9 57.5 55.6 55.7 55.8 56.6 55.4 56.3 56.7
El Salvador f/ 55.0 52.6 54.2 54.6 55.5 54.1 52.9 53.0 55.7 54.0 52.6
Honduras m/ 50.1 48.9 50.7 49.7 50.1 51.5 54.7 55.6 54.8 56.5  …
Mexico h/ 51.8 53.3 53.8 55.2 54.7 55.0 55.4 56.2 56.6 55.8 56.4
Nicaragua   …   …   … 48.8 48.3 48.7 46.9 52.2 40.8   …  …
Panama i/ 56.7 58.7 61.9 61.8 62.7 63.1 61.7 63.1 63.9 61.2 61.1
Paraguay j/ 60.9 62.2 61.0 62.9 63.9 70.5 66.0 63.7 60.6   …  …
Peru k/ 59.6 55.9 57.1 60.1 59.7 62.4 60.4 63.3 65.4   …  …
Uruguay l/ 59.6 59.5 59.5 59.0 60.5 62.1 61.6 60.2 61.4 61.4 61.4
Venezuela m/ 59.4 59.8 59.3 57.9 59.0 61.6 62.2 63.8 65.1 66.8 65.6 573
The Caribbean
Barbados 67.3 65.2 66.2 66.3 67.4 68.2 67.4 67.5 67.7 67.7  …
Jamaica 66.9 68.1 69.1 68.3 69.2 69.0 67.7 66.6 65.6   …  …
Trinidad  and Tobago 55.9 58.5 60.0 59.5 59.4 60.2 60.5 60.3 61.2   …  …
Source:  ILO, based  on country Household Surveys.
a/ Figures for the 1990-1999 period are annual averages. The periods g/ Three metropolitan regions. January-September 2000 average .
indicated in the country notes are considered for the year 2000. h/ 41 urban areas. January-September 2000 average .
b/ National urban, May 2000. i/ Metropolitan region.
c/ Six metropolitan regions. January-September 2000 average. j/ Asuncion.
d/   National total.  January-September 2000 average. k/ Metropolitan Lima. National urban since 1996.
e/ Seven metropolitan areas. September 2000. l/ Montevideo. January-September 2000 average .
f/ National urban. m/ National total. First quarter of 2000.
TABLE 5-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: URBAN EMPLOYMENT RATES. 1990 - 2000 a/
(Percentages)
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Latin America
Argentina b/ 37.6 38.2 38.7 39.6 38.3 37.2 36.6 35.9 36.8 36.5 35.9
Bolivia 47.5 48.5 47.8 49.5 52.0 53.0 54.2 50.2   …   …   …
Brazil c/ 61.1 58.1 56.6 55.6 56.3 56.6 56.4 55.2 53.8 52.8 53.7
Chile d/ 49.1 49.3 50.9 52.4 51.6 51.2 51.6 51.5 51.6 49.1 48.9
Colombia e/ 52.3 53.5 54.6 55.0 54.6 54.6 53.0 52.5 52.7 50.8 51.1
Costa Rica 50.3 48.7 48.2 49.6 51.0 51.4 48.8 50.6 52.3 51.4 50.6
Dominican
Republic f/   … 44.2 46.9 46.0 44.8 43.7 44.4   …   …   …   …
Ecuador g/ 49.1 52.0 53.7 52.4 51.3 51.4 50.0 51.3 49.0 47.8 48.3
El Salvador f/ 49.5 48.7 50.5   … 51.6 50.3 49.8 49.0 51.5 49.7 48.9
Honduras m/ 46.6 45.4 48.2 46.9 48.1 48.1 51.1 52.7 51.6 53.6   …
Mexico h/ 50.3 51.8 52.3 53.3 52.7 51.6 52.4 54.1 54.7 54.4 55.1
Nicaragua   …   …   … 40.1 40.0 40.5 39.4 43.6 34.5   …   …
Panama i/ 45.4 46.9 50.6 52.2 52.8 52.8 51.3 53.4 54.0 52.9 53.0
Paraguay j/ 56.9 59.0 57.8 59.7 61.1 66.8 60.6 59.2 56.6   …   …
Peru k/ 54.7 52.6 51.7 54.2 54.4 57.5 55.6 58.0 60.0   …   …
528 Uruguay l/ 54.1 54.2 54.1 54.0 54.9 55.4 54.0 53.2 55.1 54.1 53.3
Venezuela m/ 52.8 53.7 54.5 54.0 53.8 55.3 54.8 56.5 57.8 56.8 56.0
The Caribbean
Barbados 54.7 55.4 54.7 51.1 51.0 53.3 54.1 57.0 57.9 60.7   …
Jamaica 50.2 57.7 58.3 57.8 57.9 58.4 56.7 55.9 54.8   …   …
Trinidad  and Tobago 47.1 46.8 48.9 47.8 47.6 49.1 50.1 50.5 52.0   …   …
Source:  ILO, based on country Household Survey.
a/ The figures for the year 2000 are annual averages. The periods indicated g/ Three metropolitan regions. Average January-September 2000.
in the country notes are considered for the year 2000. h/ 41 urban areas. Average January - September 2000.
b/ National urban, May 2000. i/ Metropolitan region.
c/ Six metropolitan regions. Average January-September 2000. j/ Asuncion.
d/ National total. Average January-September 2000. k/ Metropolitan Lima. National urban since 1996 .
e/ Seven metropolitan areas. September 2000. l/ Montevideo. Average January-September 2000.
f/ National urban. m/ National total, first quarter 2000.
TABLE 6-A
LATIN AMERICA: URBAN EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE. 1990 - 2000
(Percentages)
                          Informal sector              Formal sector
Countries/Years Total     Independent  Domestic      Micro- Total Public Small, medium and
worker a/   service enterprises b/ sector large private
enterprises c/
Latin America
1990 Total 42.8 22.2 5.8 14.7 57.2 15.5 41.7
Men 39.4 21.6 0.5 17.3 60.6
Women 47.4 23.2 13.8 10.4 52.6
1995 Total 46.1 24.0 7.4 14.8 53.9 13.5 40.4
Men 42.7 23.9 0.8 18.0 57.3
Women 51.0 24.1 17.0 9.9 49.0
1999 Total 46.4 23.9 6.7 15.8 53.6 13.0 40.6
Men 43.9 24.3 0.8 18.8 56.1
Women 50.0 23.4 15.1 11.4 50.0
Argentina
1991 Total 52.0 27.5 5.7 18.8 48.0 19.3 28.7
Men 49.8 28.2 0.5 21.2 50.2
Women 55.5 26.5 14.3 14.7 44.5
1998 Total 49.3 22.7 6.4 20.3 50.7 12.7 38.0
Men 48.0 24.1 0.3 23.6 52.0
Women 51.4 20.4 15.8 15.2 48.6
Brazil
1990 Total 40.6 20.3 6.9 13.5 59.4 11.0 48.4
Men 36.1 19.6 0.5 16.0 63.9
Women 47.6 21.3 16.7 9.6 52.4
1995 Total 46.5 23.8 9.5 13.2 53.5 15.1 38.4
Men 42.1 25.1 0.9 16.0 57.9 1559
Women 52.8 21.8 21.6 9.4 47.2
1999 Total 47.1 24.0 9.4 13.7 52.9 14.2 38.8
Men 43.8 26.4 0.9 16.4 56.2
Women 51.6 20.7 20.9 10.1 48.4
Chile
1990 Total 37.9 20.9 5.4 11.7 62.1  7.0 55.1
Men 33.5 21.3 0.2 12.0 66.5
Women 45.9 20.1 14.7 11.1 54.1
1996 Total 38.8 18.9 7.1 12.8 61.2 11.8 49.4
Men 34.0 19.9 0.3 13.7 66.0
Women 46.3 17.4 17.7 11.2 53.7
1998 Total 37.5 18.5 5.1 13.9 62.5  7.2 55.3
Men 32.9 19.2 0.1 13.6 67.1
Women 44.8 17.4 13.1 14.3 55.2
Colombia
1990 Total 45.7 24.1 2.0 19.5 54.3  9.6 44.7
Men 45.1 22.6 0.1 22.3 54.9
Women 46.6 26.3 5.0 15.2 53.4
1998 Total 49.0 28.1 2.1 18.8 51.0  8.2 42.8
Men 49.2 28.4 0.2 20.7 50.8
Women 48.8 27.7 4.7 16.4 51.2
Costa Rica
1990 Total 41.2 18.9 5.8 16.4 58.8 22.0   36.8
Men 37.7 19.1 0.3 18.3 62.3
Women 47.5 18.6 15.8 13.1 52.5
1995 Total 43.3 18.5 5.0 19.7 56.7 17.4 39.3
Men 40.4 17.8 0.3 22.3 59.6
Women 48.3 19.9 13.3 15.1 51.7
1999 Total 46.8  18.4 6.8 21.6 53.2 15.2 38.1
Men 43.2 17.7 0.6 24.9 56.8
Women 52.6 19.6 16.6 16.3 47.4
TABLE 6-A (Continued)
LATIN AMERICA: URBAN EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE. 1990 - 2000
(Percentages)
                          Informal sector              Formal sector
Countries/Years Total     Independent  Domestic      Micro- Total Public Small, medium and
worker a/   service enterprises b/ sector large private
enterprises c/
Ecuador
1990 Total 55.6 35.4  5.0 15.3 44.4 18.7 25.7
Men 51.7 32.6  0.7 18.4 48.3
Women 62.1 39.9 12.1 10.1 37.9
1995 Total 63.7 33.6  5.2 25.0 36.3 14.2 22.0
Men 60.0 29.6  0.7 29.8 40.0
Women 69.2 39.4 11.8 17.9 30.8
1998 Total 58.6 33.0  6.1 19.5 41.4 14.8 26.6
Men 54.5 28.9  1.0 24.6 45.5
Women 64.1 46.7  9.4  8.0 35.9
Honduras
1990 Total 57.6 37.3   7.1 13.3 42.4 14.9 27.5
Men 45.1 25.7   0.5 18.9 54.9
Women 72.0 50.5  14.6   6.9 28.0
1995 Total 57.1 35.5   5.6 16.0 42.9 12.6 30.2
Men 49.1 25.2   0.9 23.1 50.9
Women 66.3 47.4  11.1   7.8 33.7
1999 Total 60.7 39.6   5.5 15.6 39.3 10.1 29.2
Men 53.3 28.6   0.7 23.9 46.7
Women 67.6 49.8   9.9   7.9 32.4
60 Mexico
1990 Total 38.4 19.0   4.6 14.8 61.6 19.4 42.3
Men 37.6 19.1   0.7 17.8 62.4
Women 39.9 18.7 12.0   9.2 60.1
1995 Total 43.2 20.9   5.3 17.0 56.8 16.1 40.7
Men 42.1 19.9   1.1 21.1 57.9
Women 45.1 22.6 12.6   9.9 54.9
1999 Total 40.1 18.3   4.8 17.0 59.9 14.5 45.4
Men 39.5 17.8   1.2 20.6 60.5
Women 41.1 19.2 11.4 10.6 58.9
Panama
1991 Total 36.0 19.8   7.9   8.3 64.0 32.0 32.0
Men 34.6 23.8   1.0   9.7 65.4
Women 38.0 14.0  17.8   6.3 62.0
1995 Total 37.1 20.5   7.6   9.0 62.9 25.9 37.0
Men 35.2 23.4   1.5 10.3 64.8
Women 40.0 16.1 16.9   7.0 60.0
1999 Total 38.9 22.6   6.6   9.7 61.1 20.7 40.4
Men 36.7 24.4   1.2 11.1 63.3
Women 42.2 19.9 14.6   7.7 57.8
Peru d/
1991 Total 52.7 33.4   4.9 14.5 47.3 11.6  35.7
Men 46.3 28.9   0.6 16.9 53.7
Women 62.9 40.4 11.6 10.8 37.1
1995 Total 55.1 33.0   4.8 17.3 44.9   9.3 35.6
Men 48.8 26.9   0.5 21.4 51.2
Women 64.1 41.8 11.0 11.4 35.9
1998 Total 53.7 30.2   5.5 18.0 46.3   7.2  39.1
Men 45.3 23.8   0.5 21.0 54.7
Women 64.6 38.7 11.9 14.0 35.4
TABLE 6-A (Continued)
LATIN AMERICA : URBAN EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE. 1990 - 2000
(Percentages)
                Informal sector              Formal sector
Countries/Years Total     Independent  Domestic      Micro- Total Public Small, medium and
worker a/   service enterprises b/ sector large private
enterprises c/
Uruguay e/
1990 Total 39.1 18.6   6.8 13.7 60.9 20.1  40.8
Men 33.7 18.6   0.2 15.0 66.3
Women 46.6 18.5 16.2 11.8 53.4
1995 Total 43.3 21.9   7.4 13.9 56.7 20.0 36.7
Men 38.4 21.9   0.2 16.3 61.6
Women 49.7 21.9 17.0 10.8 50.3
1999 Total 43.1 22.5   7.5 13.1 56.9 17.1 39.8
Men 39.4 24.5   0.2 14.6 60.6
Women 47.9 19.8   7.0 11.1 52.1
Venezuela
1990 Total 38.6 22.3   3.9 12.4 61.4 22.3 39.1
Men 38.3 22.0   0.4 15.9 61.7
Women 39.3 22.8 10.4   6.1 60.7
1995 Total 44.5 28.1   2.4 14.0 55.5 19.9 35.7
Men 45.3 28.1   0.1 17.1 54.7
Women 43.0 28.0   6.4   8.6 57.0
1999 Total 49.1 32.4   2.5 14.3 50.9 16.9 34.0
Men 47.5 29.6   0.2 17.8 52.5
Women 51.4 36.6   5.9   8.9 48.6
6113
Source:   ILO estimations based on data from Household Surveys and other official sources (revised series).
a/ Including own-account workers (except clerks, professionales and d/ Metropolitan Lima .
        technicians)and family workers. e/ Montevideo.
b/ Occupied in businesses with a staff of up to 5 workers.
c/ Including enterprises with 6 or more workers.
TABLE 7-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: SELECTED COUNTRIES.
NON AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT
BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND SEX. 1990 - 1999 a/
(Percentages)
Country and Total Goods Manufacturing industry, Construction, Services Commerce Transport d/    Financial Services f/ Non specified
period Sector b/   Mining, Power and Waterworks Sector c/ enterprises e/   Activities
Argentina
1991 Total 100.0 26.4 18.2   8.2 72.1 21.7   5.6 6.9 37.9 1.6
Men 100.0 34.2 21.4 12.8 63.6 22.3   8.1 7.2 26.0 2.1
Women 100.0 13.4 13.0   0.4 86.1 20.8   1.4 6.3 57.6 0.6
1998 Total 100.0 23.8 14.7   9.1 74.9 21.2   6.9 8.6 38.2 1.3
Men 100.0 33.2 18.5 14.7 65.0 20.7 10.1 8.8 25.4 1.8
Women 100.0   9.3   8.8   0.5 90.3 22.2   2.0 8.2 57.9 0.4
Barbados
1990 100.0 23.2 13.5   9.7 76.8 27.3   6.6 3.8 39.1
1996 100.0 18.7 10.4   8.3 81.3 25.5   4.2 8.0 43.5
Bolivia
1990 100.0 23.9 17.1   6.8 76.1 26.4   7.9 3.1 38.6
1997 100.0 30.4 21.1   9.3 69.6 30.7   8.9 4.9 25.1
Brazil
1990 Total 100.0 28.6 20.9   7.7 71.0 21.7   5.1 3.3 40.9 0.4
Men 100.0 37.9 25.5 12.4 61.6 22.2   7.8 3.5 28.1 0.5
Women 100.0 14.3 13.8   0.5 85.6 20.9   1.1 3.0 60.6 0.1
1995 Total 100.0 25.0 16.7   8.3 75.0 22.6   5.0 2.1 45.0 0.3
10 Men 100.0 34.8 20.9 13.9 65.2 23.3   7.8 2.2 31.3 0.6
Women 100.0 11.3 10.9   0.5 88.7 21.7   1.0 1.9 63.9 0.1
1999 Total 100.0 25.1 16.3   8.8 74.8 22.6   5.2 1.8 44.8 0.4
Men 100.0 34.9 20.3 14.6 65.2 22.8   8.2 1.8 31.7 0.7
Women 100.0 11.9 11.1   0.8 88.2 22.3   1.2 1.9 62.7 0.1
Chile
1994 Total 100.0 31.3 20.9 10.4 67.6 21.7   8.4 6.6 30.9 1.2
Men 100.0 40.7 24.8 15.8 58.2 19.3 11.9 6.3 20.7 1.1
Women 100.0 15.2 14.1   1.0 83.6 25.7   2.6 7.1 48.3 1.3
1996 Total 100.0 28.0 17.7 10.3 72.0 22.6   8.5 7.5 32.9 0.5
Men 100.0 36.9 20.8 16.1 63.1 20.3 12.1 7.3 22.8 0.5
Women 100.0 13.9 12.8   1.1 86.1 26.3   2.8 7.8 48.7 0.6
1998 Total 100.0 28.0 18.6   9.4 71.0 22.2   8.8 7.9 32.0 1.0
Men 100.0 37.7 23.0 14.7 61.3 19.4 12.7 8.1 21.1 1.0
Women 100.0 13.1 11.9   1.2 86.0 26.5   2.9 7.7 48.9 0.9
Colombia
1992 Total 100.0 31.3 25.0   6.3 68.6 28.4   6.2 7.3 26.7 0.1
Men 100.0 34.6 24.8   9.8 65.4 26.1   9.2 7.6 22.4 0.1
Women 100.0 26.2 25.3   0.9 73.7 32.0   1.4 6.9 33.4 0.1
1998 Total 100.0 28.0 21.8   6.2 71.9 26.5   7.6 8.6 29.2 0.2
Men 100.0 32.3 22.4   9.9 67.5 23.6 11.6 8.9 23.5 0.2
Women 100.0 22.2 20.9   1.3 77.7 30.3   2.3 8.1 37.0 0.2
Costa Rica
1990 Total 100.0 34.9 26.1   8.8 64.2 21.2   5.3 4.5 33.2 1.0
Men 100.0 39.8 26.4 13.4 59.2 20.5   7.8 5.6 25.3 1.2
Women 100.0 26.0 25.5   0.5 73.3 22.4   0.9 2.6 47.4 0.7
1995 Total 100.0 29.1 21.1   8.0 70.9 24.7   6.8 5.5 32.8 1.1
Men 100.0 33.3 21.0 12.3 66.7 23.5   9.5 6.5 25.9 1.3
Women 100.0 21.7 21.3   0.4 78.3 27.0   2.1 3.5 45.1 0.6
1999  Total 100.0 27.5 19.6   7.9 72.5 25.8   7.2 6.3 32.6 0.7
Men 100.0 33.5 20.8 12.7 66.5 24.4 10.4 7.0 23.9 0.8
Women 100.0 17.9 17.6   0.3 82.1 28.0   1.9 5.2 46.5 0.5
TABLE 7-A (Continued)
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: SELECTED COUNTRIES.
NON AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT
BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND SEX. 1990 - 1999 a/
(Percentages)
Country and Total Goods Manufacturing industry, Construction, Services  Commerce Transport d/    Financial Services f/ Non specified
period Sector b/   Mining, Power and Waterworks Sector c/ enterprises e/   Activities
Ecuador
1990 Total 100.0 28.1 20.3   7.7 71.9 29.4   6.1 5.0 31.4 0.0
Men 100.0 34.6 22.6 12.0 65.3 24.5   9.0 5.9 25.9 0.0
Women 100.0 17.2 16.6   0.6 82.8 37.6   1.2 3.5 40.5 0.0
1995 Total 100.0 22.2 15.6   6.6 77.8 34.0   5.9 4.8 33.0 0.1
Men 100.0 27.5 16.7 10.8 72.5 28.9   9.0 5.5 29.0 0.0
Women 100.0 14.5 14.0   0.5 85.5 41.4   1.3 3.9 38.7 0.1
1998  Total 100.0 22.3 15.9   6.4 77.7 32.8   6.8 5.6 32.4 0.1
Men 100.0 28.3 17.7 10.6 71.7 28.7 10.6 6.6 25.7 0.1
Women 100.0 13.7 13.3   0.4 86.3 38.5   1.4 4.2 42.1 0.1
El Salvador
1990 100.0 31.4 24.8   6.6 68.6 29.7   5.8 2.9 30.2
1995 Total 100.0 33.6 26.3   7.3 66.4 28.0   6.0 2.2 30.2 0.0
Men 100.0 39.4 25.9 13.5 60.6 24.9 10.6 2.1 23.0 0.0
Women 100.0 27.4 26.8   0.6 72.6 31.3   0.9 2.4 38.0 0.0
1998 Total 100.0 30.9 24.8   6.1 69.1 34.0   5.7 5.6 23.6 0.2
Men 100.0 35.9 24.5 11.8 64.1 28.7 10.5 6.2 18.5 0.2
Women 100.0 25.5 25.0   0.5 74.5 39.5   0.8 5.0 29.0 0.2
Honduras 3
1990  Total 100.0 33.8 25.1   8.7 66.2 29.4   4.3 2.3 30.2 0.1
Men 100.0 42.0 26.0 16.0 57.8 24.0   7.4 2.9 23.5 0.1
Women 100.0 24.2 23.9   0.3 75.7 35.4   0.7 1.6 38.0 0.1
1995 Total 100.0 35.6 28.0   7.6 64.4 28.7   3.9 3.0 28.8 0.0
Men 100.0 41.6 27.6 14.0 58.4 22.8   6.4 3.9 25.3 0.1
Women 100.0 28.8 28.5   0.3 71.2 35.4   0.9 2.0 32.9 0.0
1999 Total 100.0 33.1 25.9   7.1 66.9 32.2   3.7 3.2 27.8 0.0
Men 100.0 38.8 25.2 14.6 60.2 24.3   6.9 4.3 24.7 0.0
Women 100.0 26.8 26.6   0.2 73.2 39.4   0.8 2.3 30.7 0.0
Jamaica
1991 100.0 25.0 16.0   8.9 75.0 26.1   5.5 6.2 37.3
1996 100.0 25.6 14.6 11.0 74.4 27.0   6.6 7.4 33.4
Mexico
1990 Total 100.0 30.0 25.0   5.0 69.9 26.0   5.6 5.9 32.4 0.0
Men 100.0 34.8 27.6   7.3 65.1 23.9   7.5 5.8 27.9 0.1
Women 100.0 20.9 20.2   0.7 79.1 30.0   1.9 6.1 41.1 0.0
1995 Total 100.0 20.9 20.1   0.8 79.1 28.3   6.2 2.2 42.4 0.1
Men 100.0 23.3 22.2   1.0 76.7 25.5   8.6 2.1 40.4 0.1
Women 100.0 18.8 16.4   0.4 83.2 33.0   1.9 2.3 45.9 0.0
1999 Total 100.0 29.4 28.8   0.6 70.6 26.4   6.4 1.7 36.1 0.0
Men 100.0 34.3 33.4   0.9 65.8 23.5   8.9 1.6 31.8 0.0
Women 100.0 20.9 20.7   0.2 79.0 31.6   1.8 2.0 43.6 0.0
Panama
1991  Total 100.0 19.2 14.8   4.4 80.6 27.1   9.4 5.7 38.4 0.1
Men 100.0 25.2 17.8   7.4 74.8 29.5 13.9 5.7 25.7 2.1
Women 100.0 10.9 10.7   0.2 89.1 23.8   3.1 5.7 56.5 0.1
1995 Total 100.0 21.3 13.5   7.8 78.7 26.2   9.3 6.9 36.3 0.0
Men 100.0 28.4 15.6 12.7 71.6 26.6 13.2 6.6 25.2 0.0
Women 100.0 10.6 10.2   0.3 89.4 25.6   3.2 7.3 53.4 0.0
1999 Total 100.0 21.0 11.8   9.2 79.0 28.0   9.2 8.0 33.8 0.0
Men 100.0 28.2 13.5 14.8 71.8 27.8 13.1 0.5 23.4 0.0
Women 100.0 10.2   9.4   0.8 89.8 28.4   3.4 8.6 49.4 0.0
TABLE 7-A (Continued)
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: SELECTED COUNTRIES.
NON AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT
BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND SEX. 1990 - 1999 a/
(Percentages)
Country and Total Goods Manufacturing industry, Construction, Services  Commerce  Transport d/    Financial Services f/ Non specified
period Sector b/     Mining, Power and Waterworks Sector c/ enterprises e/   Activities
Peru
1991 Total 100.0 24.4 19.7   4.7 75.6 33.2   6.5 5.8 30.1 0.0
Men 100.0 30.1 22.3   7.7 69.9 27.1   9.9 7.4 25.6 0.0
Women 100.0 15.5 15.5   0.0 84.5 42.7   1.3 3.3 37.2 0.0
1995 Total 100.0 25.4 20.2   5.3 74.6 32.2   7.6 7.8 26.9 0.0
Men 100.0 31.7 23.0   8.7 68.3 24.9 11.9 10.2 21.4 0.0
Women 100.0 16.3 16.0   0.3 83.7 42.9   1.4 4.4 35.0 0.0
1999 Total 100.0 20.7 15.3   5.5 79.3 33.0   9.8 8.0 28.4 0.0
Men 100.0 28.0 18.5   9.5 72.0 23.4 15.0 9.4 24.2 0.0
Women 100.0 11.2 11.0   0.2 88.8 45.6   3.1 6.2 33.9 0.0
Trinidad and Tobago
1991 100.0 28.9 15.4 13.6 71.1 20.1   8.1   8.3 34.6
1996 100.0 25.0 13.6 11.4 75.0 21.2   8.0   9.5 36.3
Uruguay
1991 Total 100.0 31.3 24.2   7.1 68.7 18.7   5.8 5.2 39.0 0.0
8 Men 100.0 37.3 25.6 11.8 62.7 19.4   8.6 5.5 29.2 0.0
Women 100.0 22.7 22.3   0.4 77.3 17.8   1.9 4.8 52.8 0.0
1995 Total 100.0 26.3 19.0   7.3 73.7 20.3   6.2 6.5 40.7 0.0
Men 100.0 34.1 21.6 12.5 65.9 20.3   9.3 6.6 29.8 0.0
Women 100.0 16.0 15.6   0.5 84.0 20.4   2.1 6.3 55.1 0.0
1999 Total 100.0 24.4 16.0   8.4 75.6 20.4   6.4 7.6 41.2 0.0
Men 100.0 33.3 18.8 14.5 66.7 20.7   9.2 7.6 29.3 0.0
Women 100.0 13.0 12.5   0.5 87.0 20.0   2.7 7.6 56.6 0.0
Venezuela
1990 Total 100.0 29.1 20.2   8.9 70.8 24.3   7.0 6.6 32.9 0.1
Men 100.0 36.4 23.2 13.2 63.5 24.0   9.9 6.2 23.5 0.1
Women 100.0 15.8 14.8   1.0 84.1 24.8   1.6 7.4 50.2 0.1
1995 Total 100.0 24.9 15.6   9.3 75.1 26.6   7.2 6.6 34.4 0.2
Men 100.0 31.6 17.5 14.1 68.4 25.7 10.3 6.5 25.8 0.2
Women 100.0 13.4 12.3   1.1 86.6 28.3   1.8 6.9 49.3 0.4
1999 Total 100.0 24.2 15.4   8.8 75.8 27.9   8.2 6.2 33.4 0.1
Men 100.0 33.1 18.9 14.2 66.8 26.1 11.9 5.9 22.8 0.1
Women 100.0 12.1 11.2   0.9 87.9 33.8   1.6 6.0 46.4 0.1
Source:  ILO, based on country Household surveys: Argentina (national urban), Barbados (national total ), Brazil (urban areas), Bolivia (9 major cities),
Chile (national total), Colombia (10 metropolitan areas ), Costa Rica (national total), Ecuador (urban areas), El Salvador (national total), Honduras (national total), Jamaica (national total), Mexico (urban areas),
Panama (national total), Peru (Metropolitan Lima ), Trinidad and Tobago (national total), Uruguay (national total) and Venezuela (urban areas).
a/ Occupied, excluding agricultural sector . e/ Financial enterprises, insurance, real estate and services rendered to
b/ Including the manufacturing industry , mining, power,waterworks and construction. enterprises; including the housing subsector .
c/ Including commerce, transport, financial enterprises and services. f/ Including community and personal services.
d/ Transport, storage and communications.
TABLE 8-A
LATIN AMERICA: DISTRIBUTION OF WAGE-EARNING WORKERS
CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIAL SECURITY. 1990 - 1999
(Percentages)
Informal sector
Countries/Years Total     Domestic    Small Formal  Total
     service enterprises a/ Sector
Latin America
1990 Total 29.2 17.6 34.7 80.6 66.6
Men 32.5 35.5 32.5 79.1 68.4
Women 27.0 16.6 39.5 82.8 65.1
1995 Total 24.2 19.1 28.3 79.3 65.2
Men 25.4 32.0 24.8 78.2 66.6
Women 24.0 18.0 37.5 81.1 65.7
1999 Total 26.9 20.4 29.9 79.0 65.9
Men 26.6 33.8 26.0 77.7 66.2
Women 27.3 19.4 38.2 81.0 66.5
Argentina
1990 Total 24.9   7.8 38.1 86.2 61.9
Men 34.8 25.5 35.0 83.0 70.0
Women 24.9   6.8 34.3 86.2 61.9
1998 Total 20.2   5.8 32.3 81.3 57.5
Men 29.7 15.2 29.9 76.9 63.3
Women 20.2   5.6 29.2 81.3 57.5
Brazil
1990 Total 38.7 24.9 45.8 86.1 74.0
Men 43.9 44.0 43.9 85.4 76.9
Women 33.8 24.1 50.6 87.5 69.5
1995 Total 27.7 20.5 34.3 82.9 66.5 635
Men 30.8 39.5 30.0 81.6 70.9
Women 25.6 19.1 44.6 85.0 61.0
1999 Total 32.3 27.1 36.8 82.0 67.0
Men 32.5 44.0 31.4 80.2 69.8
Women 32.0 25.8 48.6 84.7 63.7
Chile
1990 Total 59.0 51.7 63.6 86.3 79.9
Men 63.3 66.7 63.3 86.7 83.1
Women 55.9 51.4 64.3 85.6 74.8
1996 Total 56.4 46.7 62.9 87.6 77.0
Men 60.2 52.1 60.5 87.7 83.4
Women 53.9 46.6 67.3 87.4 75.6
1998 Total 51.0 44.6 54.0 86.0 77.4
Men 52.4 73.9 52.2 86.1 80.4
Women 50.0 44.1 56.9 85.8 73.0
Colombia
1990 Total 25.7 12.5 27.1 77.2 62.6
Men 25.1 51.3 25.0 74.8 60.4
Women 26.7 10.8 32.0 81.1 66.1
1998 Total 35.5 20.3 37.2 80.0 67.1
Men 34.4 52.8 34.2 78.2 65.4
Women 37.1 18.7 42.4 82.5 69.2
Costa Rica
1990 Total 51.7 40.0 55.9 88.6 78.5
Men 55.2 59.5 55.2 88.4 80.8
Women 47.6 39.3 57.7 89.0 74.3
1995 Total 49.3 35.6 53.7 90.4 79.0
Men 50.7 31.7 51.1 90.1 80.8
Women 47.5 35.8 59.9 90.9 76.1
1999 Total 46.3 35.7 50.8 88.2 75.2
Men 46.6 33.5 47.0 88.1 77.5
Women 46.0 35.9 59.1 88.5 71.8
TABLE 8-A (Continued)
LATIN AMERICA: DISTRIBUTION OF WAGE-EARNING WORKERS
CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIAL SECURITY. 1990 - 1999
(Percentages)
Informal sector
Countries/Years Total     Domestic    Small Formal  Total
     service enterprises a/ sector
Ecuador
1990 Total 17.7 17.8 23.6 72.1 55.1
Men 16.3 20.8 16.1 71.1 55.5
Women 19.7 17.5 32.8 74.4 54.2
1998 Total 16.2 20.2 15.1 65.5 46.6
Men 13.4 32.7 12.6 62.6 44.9
Women 20.0 18.9 16.5 70.8 49.5
Mexico
1990 Total 12.7   4.2 15.3 72.9 58.5
Men 12.9 20.7 12.6 70.7 57.6
Women 12.3   2.5 25.0 77.2 60.3
1995 Total 12.2 16.1 16.3 80.7 69.1
Men 14.0 23.6 13.4 79.3 64.5
Women 19.3 15.0 25.6 83.0 78.1
1999 Total 13.1 10.7 14.0 82.1 69.9
Men 11.4 16.1 11.0 82.0 66.8
Women 15.7   9.7 23.3 82.1 75.8
Peru b/
1990 Total 22.1 17.3 23.6 66.6 53.6
626 Men 20.3 31.3 19.9 66.3 55.1
Women 24.2 16.3 32.8 67.2 51.0
1995 Total 14.6   8.6 16.8 65.8 55.1
Men 15.2   4.9 15.6 67.2 54.7
Women 13.8   8.8 19.7 63.0 55.9
1998 Total 13.9 13.3 14.2 67.6 56.0
Men 14.0 24.9 13.6 65.5 54.3
Women 13.8 12.7 15.2 71.7 61.1
Uruguay c/
1990 Total 63.6 44.8 73.0 88.9 82.6
Men 70.0 42.1 70.2 88.5 85.0
Women 58.8 44.8 77.8 89.7 79.1
1998 Total 57.9 39.6 68.0 87.2 79.4
Men 63.8 25.9 64.3 86.9 82.4
Women 53.8 39.8 74.3 87.6 75.8
Venezuela
1995 Total 22.7 17.6 23.6 81.0 70.6
Men 20.7 29.8 20.6 78.2 64.9
Women 26.9 17.1 35.4 85.8 81.7
1999 Total 21.0 18.8 21.4 77.6 66.4
Men 18.8 14.9 16.8 75.1 60.8
Women 29.0 19.0 36.5 81.9 77.4
Source:  ILO, estimations based on information from Household Surveys and other official sources (revised series).
a/ Occupied in enterprises with a maximum of 5 workers.
b/ Metropolitan Lima.
c/  Montevideo.
TABLE  9-A
LATIN AMERICA : REAL INDUSTRIAL WAGES . 1990 - 2000
(Index 1980 = 100)
Country  1990   1991 1992  1993 1994 1995  1996  1997 1998 1999    Rate of growth
1990-99 e/1999-2000  f/
Argentina     75.0     76.0    77.0     75.7    76.5     75.6     75.5     75.1   74.9  75.7      0.1     0.3
Barbados     99.0     92.0    89.0     90.0    88.0     87.0     98.7   101.2 c/    …   …       …      …
Bolivia     86.7     85.9    86.8     88.0    95.8     94.3     94.6   101.8    …   …       …      …
Brazil     96.7     90.9    98.3   108.7   113.4   124.2   128.4   132.9 135.7 130.8      3.4    -1.5
Chile   105.8    112.9   118.2   122.4   128.5   133.1   142.6   146.0 149.9 153.4      4.1     1.5
Colombia   114.8    114.1   115.6   120.9   122.0   123.6   125.2   128.8 129.1 131.1      1.5     4.1
Costa Rica   109.7   106.1   106.8   123.0   125.7   122.9   120.9   126.2 130.7 136.3      2.4      …
Honduras     73.4     71.9    82.7   105.4    79.9     73.9     68.9     70.8   73.2   …      0.0      …
Mexico     59.6     61.9    67.6     69.6    71.9     62.1     54.9     54.8   56.2  56.5     -1.2     5.3
Panama      …     97.8   106.6   105.0   104.4     99.7   110.4   107.2 114.0   …      2.2      …
Paraguay   102.4     97.7    93.8     93.6    95.4     98.8   100.3   100.8   98.9  98.7     -0.4      …
Peru     34.4     40.7    39.1     38.2    45.2     43.5     42.4     42.3   43.0  42.1      2.3     3.4 g/
Uruguay   110.8   115.8   117.5   123.8   122.9   115.5   114.2   113.8 116.7 118.5      0.7    -0.9
Venezuela     57.0     52.1    49.6     46.8    48.9     46.0     38.8      …    …   …       …      …
Average a/     86.6     86.8    89.2     93.6    94.2     92.9     94.0   100.1 102.0 104.8      1.4     1.7
             b/     84.7     83.4    89.1     92.8    96.4     99.4   100.3   102.8 105.1 102.1      1.7     1.2
637
Source: ILO, based on official country figures.
a/ Arithmetic average. Excluding Honduras. e/ Annual variation . 1991-1998 period for Panama.
b/ Weighted average. Excluding Honduras. f/ Variation of the averages for the first semester of each year.
c/   Estimated based on the tendency of the first semester of 1997. g/ Variation of the first quarter against the same period of the previous year.
d/ Preliminary figures.
TABLE  10-A
LATIN AMERICA: REAL URBAN MINIMUM WAGES. 1990 - 1999
(Index 1980 = 100)
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999        Rate of growth
1990-99 d/ 1999-2000 e/
Argentina a/   40.2   52.9   45.3   70.0   81.1   78.5   78.4   77.9   77.3  77.8   7.6  1.2 f/
Bolivia a/   16.1   26.3   26.4   28.8   31.7   31.1   31.3   32.2   37.5  41.1 11.0  3.0
Brazil a/   55.4   64.8   56.5   63.9   60.8   67.1   68.9   73.2   75.7  76.8   3.7  1.0
Chile a/   73.3   79.9   83.4   87.5   90.8   94.8   98.8 102.3 108.3 113.3   4.9  8.9
Colombia a/ 105.7 103.5 101.8 104.6 102.8 102.4 101.5 103.8 103.7 109.9   0.4  0.5
Costa Rica b/ 127.2 123.3 125.4 130.6 134.6 129.9 130.3 135.0 139.4 143.0   1.3 -0.4
Dominican
Republic  a/   65.2   78.6   74.7   72.7   73.1   80.3   78.0   …     …   …   …   …
Ecuador a/   33.9   30.9   33.0   37.8   41.1   49.5   52.3   50.5   46.8  44.1   3.0              -30.1 i/
El Salvador b/   33.9   34.6   29.2   35.9   37.3   36.8   33.5   32.0   33.1  33.8   0.0 -1.4 f/
Guatemala b/ 108.7   99.5   87.5   78.4   74.7   89.3   88.4   80.9   84.9  88.2  -2.3  3.8 g/
Haití   71.4   67.0   56.8   50.2   39.0   …   …   …     …   …   …   …
Honduras b/   81.9   83.5 100.1 100.9   82.8   80.2   79.5   78.3   79.0  76.7  -0.7 -4.1 f/
Mexico a/   42.0   39.6   38.3   37.8   37.7   33.3   30.5   30.1   30.1  29.8  -3.8  4.8
Panama b/   98.4   97.1   95.5 107.2 105.8 105.6 111.4 110.0 113.0 117.1   2.0  0.3 h/
Paraguay a/ 132.1 125.7 114.7 110.2 113.2 112.8 103.6 107.0 105.2 101.8  -2.9 -1.1
Peru a/   21.4   14.9   15.6   12.1   14.4   14.7   15.2   26.7   29.6  28.9   3.4  9.9
628
Uruguay a/   68.8   62.9   60.0   51.5   46.0   42.9   41.7   40.8   42.8  42.9  -5.1 -1.2
Venezuela a/   55.2   61.5   70.2   50.8   52.7   53.7   45.9   39.9   42.9  45.4  -2.1 -4.3
Average c/   68.4   69.3   67.5   68.4   67.8   70.8   69.9   70.0   71.9  73.1   0.6  0.5
Source:  ILO, based on official country statistics.
a/ National minimum wage  . f/ Variation of the January-October average.
b/ Lowest minimum industrial wage. g/ Variation of the January-May average.
c/ Arithmethic average. h/ Average variation January-September.
d/ Annual variation. i/ Variation of the January-May average. Wages were unified and dollarized
e/ Variation of  the averages for the period January-September of each year. starting in April.
Table  11-A
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, 1990-1999
(Annual variations)
Country 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 a/ 1990 - 1999
Latin America
Argentina -1.4 10.0    8.9  5.8  8.3  -3.1  4.4  8.0  3.9 -3.0  4.6
Bolivia  4.6   5.4    1.7  4.3  4.8   4.7  4.5  4.9  5.4  0.8  4.0
Brazil -4.7   1.1   -0.3  4.5  6.2   4.2  2.5  3.5 -0.1  0.5  2.4
Chile  3.7   8.0  12.3  7.0  5.7 10.6  7.4  7.4  3.4 -1.1  6.7
Colombia  3.8   2.0    4.1  5.2  6.1   5.2  2.1  3.4  0.4 -4.5  2.6
Costa Rica  3.5   2.3    8.6  5.9  4.8   3.9  0.6  5.6  7.7  0.8  5.1
Dominican
Republic -4.9   0.8    6.4  2.0  4.3   4.5  6.8  7.1  6.0  7.6  4.9
Ecuador  3.2   5.0    3.0  2.2  4.4   3.0  2.3  3.9  1.0 -9.2  1.6
El Salvador  4.8   2.8    7.3  6.4  6.0   6.2  1.8  4.2  3.5  2.6  4.4
Guatemala  3.0   3.7    4.9  4.0  4.1   5.0  3.0  4.4  5.3  3.4  4.1
Haiti -0.1   0.1 -13.8 -2.2 -8.3   5.0  2.8  1.5  3.2  2.4 -1.2
Honduras  0.8   2.7    5.8  7.1 -1.9   3.7  3.7  5.0  3.3 -2.0  3.0
Mexico  5.2   4.2    3.7  1.8  4.4  -6.1  5.4  6.8  5.0  3.6  3.1
Nicaragua -0.1 -0.4    0.8 -0.4  4.0   4.4  5.1  5.4  4.1  6.9  3.2
Panama  7.7   9.0    8.2  5.3  3.1   1.9  2.7  4.7  4.4  3.5  4.6
639
Paraguay  3.0   2.5    1.7  4.0  3.0   4.5  1.1  2.4 -0.6  0.2  2.1
Peru -5.4   2.5   -0.9  5.7 13.6   8.6  2.3  8.6  0.1  1.9  4.5
Uruguay  0.6   2.9    6.6  2.2  5.9 -1.9  4.4  4.5  4.3 -2.4  2.9
Venezuela  7.0 10.5    7.0 -0.4 -3.7   5.9 -0.4  7.4  0.4 -7.5  2.0
The Caribbean
Barbados -3.0 -3.6   -5.5  1.0  3.5   2.6  4.0  2.4  4.3  2.5  1.2
Belice 10.3   3.0    9.0  4.3  1.6   3.7  1.3  4.1  1.5  5.7  3.7
Dominica  6.3   2.1    2.3  1.9  1.9   1.2  2.9  2.2  3.6  0.4  2.0
Guyana -5.0   9.4    9.4 11.8  9.6   3.2  8.5  9.1 -2.2  3.0  6.6
Jamaica  5.4   0.3    2.5  1.8  1.9   1.8 -0.3 -2.2 -1.0  0.7  0.6
Trinidad and Tobago  1.4   3.5   -1.0 -1.2  4.2   4.2  4.4  4.0  5.3  7.8  3.4
Latin America
and The Caribbean -0.3   3.8    3.3  3.9  5.3   1.1  3.6  5.4 2.1  0.4  3.1
Source:  ILO, based on ECLAC and official country figures.
a/   Preliminary figures.
Table  12-A
LATIN AMERICA: SEMESTRAL RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT 2000-2001 PROJECTIONS (*)
(Percentages)
1998 1999 2000 2001
I   II Annual   I   II Annual   I   II Annual Annual
LATIN
AMERICA a/   8.2   8.0   8.1   9.1    8.8   8.9   9.2   8.7   9.0   8.1
Selected
countries   8.1   7.9   8.0   9.0   8.8   8.9   9.1   8.7   8.9   8.0
Argentina 13.2 12.8 13.0 14.5 14.2 14.3 15.4 15.0 15.2 13.8
Brazil   7.8   7.4   7.6   7.8    7.7   7.8   7.8   7.1   7.5   6.6
Chile   5.7   7.0   6.4   9.5 10.2   9.8   8.8   9.7   9.3   8.3
Colombia 15.2 15.4 15.3 19.7 19.1 19.4 20.3 19.7 20.0 17.5
Ecuador   9.0 10.9   9.9 14.3 16.0 15.1 15.8 15.0 15.4 14.0
Mexico   3.4   3.0   3.2   2.8    2.3   2.5   2.2   2.4   2.3   2.7
Uruguay   9.8 10.6 10.2 12.2 11.4 11.8 13.2 13.7 13.5 12.5
Venezuela 11.3 11.2 11.3 15.3 14.5 14.9 14.6 14.0 14.3 13.0
Rest of
the region b/   8.7   8.5   8.6   9.6   8.6   9.1 10.2   9.1   9.6   8.6
Source:  ILO, based on the “Unemployment Projection Model”.
a/  Weighted averages.
b/  Including Central American countries, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Peru; these countries represent 11% of the region’s total urban EAP.
(*) Highlighted figures refer to recorded rates of growth; the rest of the figures refer to projections of the “moderate” scenario.
The combined EAP of selected countries represents 89% of the region’s total urban EAP.
720
TABLE  13-A
LATIN AMERICA: GDP ANNUAL RATE OF GROWTH 2000-2001 PROJECTIONS (*)
(Annualized proportional variations)
1998 1999 2000 2001
    I   II Annual   I   II Annual   I  II Annual Annual
LATIN
AMERICA a/  3.6  0.9  2.3 -0.8  0.8  0.0  4.4 4.2 4.3 4.2
Selected
countries 3.5  0.8  2.1 -0.4  1.5  0.2  4.3 4.2 4.3 4.1
Argentina 7.3  1.4  4.3 -4.0 -2.0 -3.5  0.7 1.7 1.2 2.5
Brazil 1.3 -0.8  0.1  0.2  2.1  0.5  3.8 4.2 4.0 4.2
Chile 6.9  0.0  3.4 -2.9  0.9 -1.0  5.8 5.8 5.8 5.5
Colombia 3.3 -2.3  0.4 -6.2 -2.3 -5.0  1.5 2.5 2.0 3.8
Ecuador 0.9  0.0  0.4 -6.4 -8.2 -7.3  0.5 0.5 0.5 3.5
Mexico 5.9  3.9  4.9  2.5  4.8  3.5  7.8 5.8 6.8 4.8
Peru 0.2 -0.9 -0.3  0.7  2.7  1.4  6.0 2.0 4.0 6.0
Uruguay 4.1  2.8  4.5 -1.0 -5.6 -2.5 -1.0 2.0 0.5 4.0
Venezuela 5.7 -6.4  4.5 -8.2 -5.2 -2.5  1.5 3.6 2.5 3.0
Rest of the
region b/ 5.2  1.5  3.5 -3.4 -3.5 -1.2  4.8 4.1 4.6 4.9
Source:  ILO, base on official data and estimations, IMF, ECLAC, WB, IIF and JP Morgan.
a/  Weighted averages.
b/ The combined GDP of selected countries represents around 95% of the region’s total.
c/  Including Central American countries, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Paraguay; the combined GDP of these countries represents around 5% of the region’s total.
(*) Highlighted figures refer to recorded rates of growth. The rest of the figures refer to projections of the “moderate” scenario of GDP growth.
22
ILO OFFICES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
ARGENTINA Av. Cordoba 950, 13º y 14º pisos
ILO Area Office for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay Buenos Aires 1054
Argentina
Telephone: (00-5411) 4393-7076
Fax: (00-5411) 4393-7062
E-mail: buenosaires@oit.org.ar
BRAZIL Sector de Embaixadas Norte, Lote 35
ILO Office Brasilia, D.F. CEP 70800-400
Brazil
Telephone: (00-5561) 225-8015
Fax: (00-5561) 322-4352
E-mail: brasilia@oitbrasil.org.br
COSTA RICA Ofiplaza del Este, Edificio B, 3° Piso,
ILO Area Office for Central America, Panama and the Barrio Betania
Dominican Republic San Pedro de Montes de Oca
ILO Multidisciplinary Team for Central America, Apartado Postal 10.170-1000
Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic San Jose
Costa Rica
Telephone: (00-506) 253-7667 / 207-8700 / 207-8701
Fax: (00-506) 224-2678
E-mail:sanjose@oit.or.cr
CHILE Luis Carrera 1131
ILO Multidisciplinary Team for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Comuna de Vitacura
Paraguay and Uruguay Casilla 19034, Correo 19
Santiago
Chile
Telephone: (00-562) 201-2727
Fax: (00-562) 201-2031
E-mail: santiago@oitchile.cl
MEXICO Darwin N° 31
ILO Area Office for Cuba, Haiti and Mexico Colonia Anzures
CP11590
Apartado Postal 105-202,11581
Mexico D.F.
Mexico
Telephone: (00-525) 250-3224
Fax: (00-525) 250-8892 / 250-3267
E-mail: mexico@oit.org.mx
PERU Las Flores 295
ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean San Isidro (Lima 27)
ILO Multidisciplinary Team for the Andean Countries Apartado 14-124
Lima
Peru
Telephone: (00-511) 221-2565
Fax: (00-511) 421-5292
E-mail: oit@oit.org.pe
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 11 St. Clair Avenue
ILO Caribbean Office P.O. Box 1201
ILO Multidisciplinary Team for the Caribbean Countries Puerto España
Trinidad and Tobago
Telephone: (00-1809) 628-1453 - 1456
Fax: (00-1809) 628-2433
E-mail: portofspain@ilocarib.org.tt
URUGUAY Av. Uruguay 1238
Inter-American Vocational Training Research Casilla del Correo 1761
and Documentation Centre Montevideo 11.100
CINTERFOR Uruguay
Telephone: (00-598-2) 902-0557 / 902-0063 / 902-9716
Fax: (00-598-2) 902-1305
E-mail: dirmvd@cinterfor.org.uy