WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The World Bank Regional Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, today said the challenge facing the region is the creation of more and better jobs in the era of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
He said the LAC is the region most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, with a health impact as strong as that of advanced countries, but without comparable means to mitigate the effect on economic activity and employment.
“It is a complex, painful scenario in which millions of people suffer daily the difficulties facing the region and their devastating consequences on the world of work,” Jaramillo said, noting that informal workers have been the most affected.
He said with quarantines keeping them from going out, they cannot earn income for their families, and because they are not covered by unemployment insurance and other social programmes, it is difficult to help them.
“Formal employment has resisted better so far, but these jobs will likely be heavily affected in the coming months as companies’ liquidity problems become solvency problems and many will be forced to close.”
But he stressed that the LAC cannot overcome these difficulties by returning to the past.
He said the World Bank report titled “Going Viral: COVID-19 and the Accelerated Transformation of Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean”, demonstrates that in the region, employment in the industrial sector stagnated at levels below those of advanced economies and emerging economies of East Asia.
“It also shows that most employment is concentrated in the service sector, which is typically more informal and has higher self-employment rates. The technological revolution has accentuated these trends. With respect to the pandemic, the need to adopt digital platforms that reduce social interaction is widening the gap between those who can telework and those who cannot.”
Jaramillo argues that the creation of more and better jobs is vital for the region, adding that it is crucial to invest in creating the human capital necessary for the jobs of the future, which will be less routine and simple.
