Fig 1.
Labor market developments in Latin America.
(A) Percentage Distribution of the working-age population. (B) Labor Market Dynamics (2006 = 100). Source: Prepared with data from the IDB’s Labor Markets and Social Security Information System (SIMS) database, 2020. Latin America is a simple average with information from 16 countries.
Fig 2.
Informality rate of the population age 15 and older and GDP per capita in Latin America.
Sources: Based on household survey data and on data from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators. PPP: purchasing power parity. ARG: Argentina, BOL: Bolivia, BRA: Brazil, CHL: Chile, COL: Colombia, CRI: Costa Rica, ECU: Ecuador, SLV: El Salvador, GTM: Guatemala, HND: Honduras, MEX: Mexico, PAN: Panama, PRY: Paraguay, PER: Peru, DOM: Dominican Republic, URY: Uruguay.
Table 1.
Absolute change in the distribution of the working-age population in Latin America, 2006–-circa 2018 (percentage points).
Table 2.
Ratio of persons employed in the formal sector relative to the informal sector, selected Latin American countries, 2020.
Fig 3.
Distribution of the working-age population over 15 Years Old, selected Latin American countries, 2020 (percent).
Sources: Estimates from household or employment surveys: Argentina—EPH (2020:Q1, Q2), Bolivia—ECH (2020:Q1, Q2), Brazil—PNADC (2020:Q1, Q2, Q3), Chile—ENE (2020:Q1, Q2, Q3), Colombia—GEIH (February, June, September 2020), Mexico—ENOE (2020:Q1, Q3) and ETOE (2020:Q2), Paraguay—EPHC (2020:Q1, Q2, Q3), Peru—ENAHO (2020:Q1, Q2). The EPH survey for Argentina only has urban coverage. For the second quarter, Bolivia’s ECH survey only reports a limited set of variables, so the formality variable cannot be constructed. For Ecuador, the 2019:Q3 survey is used because 2020:Q1 data are not available.
Table 3.
Demographic profile of the population employed in the informal sector as a percentage of employment, selected Latin American countries, 2020 (percent).
Table 4.
Demographic profile of the unemployed population as a percentage of the working-age population, selected Latin American countries, 2020.
Table 5.
Demographic profile of the inactive population as a percentage of the working-age population, 2020.
Table 6.
Estimate for Latin America of the correlation between the informality rate and the average monthly salary.
Fig 4.
Latin America: Simulation of the informality rate (percent).
Source: Estimates based on data from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators; the IDB’s Labor Markets and Social Security Information System (SIMS), 2020; and 2020 employment and household surveys for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru. The blue line represents the average informality rate in 16 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay; the red line is the informality rate predicted by the model in Eq (1); and the yellow line presents the drop in the informality rate between 2019 and 2020 in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru.
Table 7.
Estimate for Latin America of the correlation between the informality rate and economic activity status.
Fig 5.
Latin America: Changes in the informality rate associated with declines in labor income compared to the pre-COVID-19 level.
Sources: Estimates from household or employment surveys: Argentina—EPH (2019), Bolivia—ECH (2018), Brazil—PNADC (2018), Chile—CASEN (2017), Colombia—GEIH (2018), Costa Rica—ENAHO (2018), Ecuador—ENEMDU (2018), El Salvador—EHPM (2019), Guatemala—ENEI (2018), Honduras—EPHPM—(2018), Mexico—ENIGH (2018), Panama—EPM (2017), Paraguay—EPHC (2018), Peru—ENAHO (2018), Dominican Republic—ENCFT (2017), Uruguay—ECH (2019). The EPH survey in Argentina only has urban coverage. The blue bar indicates the increase in percentage points of the probability of working in the formal sector associated with declines in labor income due to the pandemic (left axis); the yellow bar indicates this increase of informal workers as a percentage of the working-age population (left axis); the green circle indicates the increase of informal workers in absolute numbers (right axis). p.p.: percentage points.
Fig 6.
Latin America: Simulation of changes in the informality rate associated with changes in labor income and in the sectoral composition of the employed population (percentage points).
Source: Estimates from household or employment surveys: Argentina—EPH (2019), Bolivia—ECH (2018), Brazil—PNADC (2018), Chile—CASEN (2017), Colombia—GEIH (2018), Costa Rica—ENAHO (2018), Ecuador—ENEMDU (2018), El Salvador—EHPM (2019), Guatemala—ENEI (2018), Honduras—EPHPM—(2018), Mexico—ENIGH (2018), Panama—EPM (2017), Paraguay—EPHC (2018), Peru—ENAHO (2018), Dominican Republic ENCFT (2017), Uruguay—ECH (2019). The EPH survey in Argentina only has urban coverage.
Fig 7.
Latin America: Results of the simulation of interventions to cushion impacts on the increase in the informality rate (percentage points).
Source: Estimates from household or employment surveys: Argentina—EPH (2019), Bolivia—ECH (2018), Brazil—PNADC (2018), Chile—CASEN (2017), Colombia—GEIH (2018), Costa Rica—ENAHO (2018), Ecuador—ENEMDU (2018), El Salvador—EHPM (2019), Guatemala—ENEI (2018), Honduras—EPHPM—(2018), Mexico—ENIGH (2018), Panama—EPM (2017), Paraguay—EPHC (2018), Peru—ENAHO (2018), Dominican Republic—ENCFT (2017), Uruguay—ECH (2019). p.p.: percentage points. The EPH survey in Argentina only has urban coverage.
Fig 8.
Latin America: Results of the simulation of interventions to cushion the impact of the increase in the informality rate.
Source: Estimates from household or employment surveys: Argentina—EPH (2019), Bolivia—ECH (2018), Brazil—PNADC (2018), Chile—CASEN (2017), Colombia—GEIH (2018), Costa Rica—ENAHO (2018), Ecuador—ENEMDU (2018), El Salvador—EHPM (2019), Guatemala—ENEI (2018), Honduras—EPHPM—(2018), Mexico—ENIGH (2018), Panama—EPM (2017), Paraguay—EPHC (2018), Peru—ENAHO (2018), Dominican Republic ENCFT (2017), Uruguay—ECH (2019). The EPH survey in Argentina only has urban coverage.