Unemployment Trends in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Marco Aquino

LIMA (Reuters) – Unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean likely fell in 2024, but the inequality gap continued to widen, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report on Tuesday.

Importance of the Issue

Despite a reduction in unemployment, persistent issues regarding job quality contribute significantly to the region’s inequality. Almost half of workers face precarious contracts, unstable incomes, or economic vulnerability, according to the report.

Key Quotes

“The region has recovered pre-pandemic employment levels, but the outlook remains worrying: we are at the same point as 10 years ago,” Ana Virginia Moreira, Director of the ILO for Latin America and the Caribbean, stated in the report.

“Economic growth is slowing down and structural deficiencies in job creation persist,” she added.

By the Numbers

According to the ILO, regional unemployment closed at 6.1% in 2024, a slight decrease from 6.5% the previous year. The employment rate in the region increased by 0.5 percentage points to 58.9% between 2023 and 2024.

The female employment rate stood at 52.1% in 2024, significantly lower than the male employment rate at 74.3%, with women earning on average 20% less than men. Moreover, informal labor remained high in the region at 47.6%.

What’s Next

The ILO estimates that the unemployment rate in 2025 will remain between 5.8% and 6.2%, amid moderate economic growth. The organization urged leaders to create policies that promote robust job growth and emphasize labor formalization.