International Labour Organization (ILO): 2022 Labour Outlook

• The Labour Overview of Latin America and the Caribbean report states that after two years of the crisis, the region faces high unemployment and the prospect of an increase in informality. This is owing to the fact that the economic growth recorded in 2021 was insufficient to recover labour markets in the Caribbean and Latin America. 
• 'The labour outlook is uncertain, the persistence of infections due to the pandemic and the prospect of mediocre economic growth this year could prolong the employment crisis until 2023 or even 2024,' said Vinícius Pinheiro, ILO regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean. 
• Despite the strong economic recovery recorded in 2021, with growth above 6%, it was not enough to recover the jobs that were lost. Of the 49 million jobs that had been lost at the worst point of the crisis in Q2 2020, 4.5 million have not yet been recovered. 
• The average regional unemployment rate at the end of 2021 has been estimated at 9.6%, which represents an improvement from the 10.6% recorded in 2020. Nevertheless, the figures still represent a setback compared to the 8% that was recorded for 2019. 
• The ILO highlighted that the forecast of much lower economic growth in 2022, just above 2%, is a clear indication that it will take the region longer to get out of the Covid-19 crisis. Under these conditions, and considering the persistence of the pandemic, the ILO estimates that the unemployment rate this year could fall between 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points, remaining above 9%.

(Source: ILO)