LAC Equity Lab: Labor Markets - Labor Force

In the Latin America and the Caribbean region, labor income accounts for anywhere between 60 to 80 percent of total income for the poorest groups. Although the region has expanded social protection programs and other income sources, increases in labor income have been the single biggest driver of poverty reduction since 2000.

This dashboard presents comparative data for the past 20 years with the main labor market indicators (labor force participation, employment rate, and unemployment rate) disaggregated by indicators of monetary poverty and level of education attained. Employment rate indicators are also disaggregated by economic sector (primary, manufacturing, construction and utilities, retail and services), firm size (small private firms, large private firms and public enterprises) and type of worker (employers, self-employed, wage employee and unpaid workers).



Definition of labor market indicators:

Labor force participation: Share of the adult (between 15 and 64 years old) population that is in the labor force. The labor force includes employed workers and unemployed workers (those who are actively seeking work).

Employment rate: Share of the adult (between 15 and 64 years old) population that is employed.

Informality rate: Share of the adult (between 15 and 64 years old) population that is employed and not receiving employment-based pension benefits.

* In Argentina, self-employed workers are not asked about pensions; therefore, workers who have completed tertiary education are considered formal workers.

The SEDLAC (CEDLAS and WB) harmonization is an effort to increase cross-country comparability. However, methodological changes in the underlying surveys may result in non-comparable data that the harmonization process cannot fully solve. It is important that the user know what data is and is not comparable. For more information, visit the comparability dashboard.

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