Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Vinicius Pinheiro Alicia Bárcena Regional Director Executive Secretary Regional Office for Latin America and Economic Commission for Latin the Caribbean of the International America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Labour Organization (ILO) 21 May 2020

Latin America and the Caribbean was posting low growth before the pandemic and 2020 is expected to bring the worst economic contraction since 1930 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: GDP VARIATION, SEVEN-YEAR AVERAGES, 1901 – 2019 ( Percentages) 10 6.2 % 2014 – 2019: 8 4.5 % 4.3% 0.4% 4.2 % 3.2 % 3.1 % 6 2.6 % 2.2 % 4 5.8 % 6.3 % 5.5 % 2 5.3 % 0 1.4 % 1.9 % 3.2 % -2 3.5 % -4 1914: 1930: -6 Start of the COVID-19 -4.9% -5.0% crisis: -5.3% -8 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1916 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 Source : Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of data from Maddison Project [online] https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

The number of unemployed was rising and the unemployment rate reached 8.1% in 2019 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (18 COUNTRIES): NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES, 2018 AND 2019 (Percentages) Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)/International Labour Organization (ILO), “Work in times of pa ndemic: the challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID- 19)” Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, No. 22 (LC/TS.2020/46), Santiago, 2020. a Data for Argentina refer to urban areas. b Data for 2019 are preliminary. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Own-account work continued to be a major source of income generation and rose again in 2019 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (13 COUNTRIES): a EMPLOYMENT CREATION BY CATEGORY OF WORK, 2019 Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)/International Labour Organization (ILO), on the basis of official data from the countries. a Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. b Data for 2019 are preliminary. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

54% of workers in Latin America, especially the most vulnerable groups, are in informal work INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT BY SEX, AGE, LEVEL OF EDUCATION, RURAL STATUS AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY (Percentages) Source : International Labour Organization (ILO), Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture, 2018. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Gender gaps remain in both access to employment and employment quality. Unemployment was 2.5 percentage points higher for women than for men in 2019 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (17 COUNTRIES): NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES, BY SEX, 2019 (Percentages) Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)/International Labour Organization (ILO), “ Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID- 19)”, Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean , No. 22 (LC/TS.2020/46), Santiago, 2020. a The values in brackets show the gap between women’s and men’s unemployment rates, in percentage points. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Female workers are vulnerable to the situation for several reasons ▪ Greater probability of being informal workers • The region has almost 10 million wage domestic workers (mainly women) • Greater probability of being an unpaid family worker • Even among those in wage and own-account work, women are more likely to be informal workers ▪ Large participation in the health sector: affected by long working hours and exposure to the virus. ▪ Less probability of being able to work remotely (less likely to occupy professional positions and less access to technology). ▪ Excess workload owing to responsibility for the majority of care work. ▪ Many countries have reported increases in domestic violence. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the labour market Working women are Informal work: drop in more vulnerable. employment owing to Formal work : cuts to hours, Greater participation in the distancing and prohibition formal sector, lower wages, declines in wages, and layoffs of movement, reduced access greater participation to income compensation in health sector Micro- and small Labour-intensive sectors enterprises account for that are severely affected: tourism, retail and wholesale, 46.6% of total employment in manufacturing, real estate, the region and are at high risk entertainment of bankruptcy Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

It is estimated that 42.4% of employment is in sectors that are most affected by the physical distancing measures Latin America (13 countries): workers in sectors at risk, 2018 High risk: wholesale and retail trade; ( Percentages ) repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; manufacturing; accommodation and food services; real estate, business and administrative activities. Medium-high risk: transport and storage; information and communication; arts, entertainment and recreation; and other services. Medium risk: mining and quarrying; financial and insurance activities; and construction. Low-medium risk: agriculture, forestry and fishing. Low risk: health and social services; public administration and defence; compulsory social security; human health and social work activities; and education. Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of risk factors identified by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Working hours are expected to decline by around 10.3% in the second quarter of this year Decline in working hours (Millions of hours) Source : International Labour Organization (ILO), “ILO Monitor: COVID - 19 and the world of work. Third edition”, 29 April 2020 [online] https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--- dgreports/---dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_743146.pdf. Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

The unemployment rate is expected to reach at least 11.5% Latin America: economically active population, unemployed Latin America: changes in the unemployment rate persons and unemployment rate (Percentage points) (Number of persons) 4.0 3.4 2019 2020 3.5 Economically active 3.0 322,421,908 326,849,019 population 2.5 2.0 Unemployed persons 26,148,377 37,719,817 1.5 Variation in 11,571,440 295,756 1.0 unemployed persons 0.5 11.5% Unemployment rate % 8.1% 0.0 -0.5 -1.0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

The drop in GDP and rise in unemployment are expected to push almost 30 million people into poverty Latin America: poverty and extreme poverty in a scenario of a 5.3% decline in GDP and a rise of 3.7 percentage points in unemployment in 2020 Millions of persons Percentage of the population Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

In addition to those living in poverty, large sections of the population are living with chronic financial insecurity and are exposed to loss of labour income Latin America (18 countries): population size and trends by per capita income strata , 2019 and 2020 (Millions of persons) ▪ 23.8 million people in the non-poor low-income strata (1 to 1.8 poverty lines per capita) would fall into poverty (15%) ▪ Severe worsening in middle- income strata ▪ 16.7 million people in the lower-middle income strata are expected to drop into the low-income strata (15%) Source : Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of Household Survey Data Bank (BADEHOG). Work in times of pandemic: The challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)