Unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean – Has continued to fall but will rise from 2015 says ILO

The International Labour Organization (ILO) today reported an unusual pattern in the urban unemployment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2014, which continued to fall despite the economic slowdown.

However, the Organization warned that slow growth has begun to impact the labour market. “There are warning signs,” said Elizabeth Tinoco, ILO Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, who presented the report in Mexico. “The concern is that we are creating fewer jobs despite unemployment remaining at a low level.”

“The concern is that we are creating fewer jobs despite unemployment remaining at a low level." 

Elizabeth Tinoco, ILO Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

Tinoco today launched the 2014 edition of the Panorama Laboral de América Latina y el Caribe 2014  (Labour Overview for Latin America and the Caribbean 2014) in Mexico City, highlighting the region’s urban unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent for the third quarter of 2014, which is expected to reach 6.1 per cent at the end of this year – 0.1 per cent below the rate for 2013. “We are talking about almost 15 million people unemployed,” she said.

The annual ILO report stresses that economic growth forecasts for this year have been revised downwards to 1.3 per cent by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which expects them to rise moderately to 2.2 per cent in 2015.

Although unemployment has not risen due to this slowdown in growth, there has been a sharp reduction of new jobs reflected in the employment rate, which fell by 0.4 percentage points to 55.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2014. “This means that at least one million jobs less have been created,” Tinoco said.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Labour Overview for Latin America and the Caribbean 2014: Unemployment continued to fall in Latin America and the Caribbean but will rise from 2015.