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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sociol.
Sec. Work, Employment and Organizations
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1372404
This article is part of the Research Topic Standard employment enclaves, precarity and informality: Explaining employment configurations in the Global South View all articles

Labor Markets during COVID-19: Gaps and Challenges in Latin America

Provisionally accepted
Oscar A. Martínez-Martínez Oscar A. Martínez-Martínez 1*Javier Reyes-Martínez Javier Reyes-Martínez 2Andrés Mideros Mora Andrés Mideros Mora 3Andrea C. Sánchez Pilco Andrea C. Sánchez Pilco 3Camila L. Rodriguez Salme Camila L. Rodriguez Salme 3
  • 1 Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Mexico
  • 2 Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico City, Mexico City, Mexico
  • 3 Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latin American labor markets continue to be quantified, to identify the social and economic impacts that this pandemic had, and to design more efficient public policies that would protect the most vulnerable groups. For this reason, the research question was as follows: what were the changes in the labor formality rates before and two years after the main contingency measures of the COVID-19 pandemic were implemented? Using data from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay, the analysis method that was proposed by Chacaltana (2016) and McMillan and Rodrick (2011) was used, which underscores the role of sectoral change as a crucial determinant of labor formality; the variation in formality can be broken down into two dimensions, the intrasectoral and intersectoral components. The main findings suggest that the weighted labor formality rate increased in these countries in the region. These changes in formality could be the result of greater capital accumulation, the integration of productive processes, the integration of commercialization processes, and differentiated fiscal stimuli (i.e., the intrasectoral aspect), but it was not due to the displacement of workers from highly informal economic sectors to more formalized sectors (i.e., the intersectoral component). Similarly, the results emphasized the precarious situation of women in the region, regardless of the country, particularly in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. These findings suggest the need to design public policies that reverse the current situation of the labor market and prevent future economic shocks, with special emphasis on the informal sector and women.

    Keywords: Labor formality, COVID-19, gender, Economic sectors, Latin America

    Received: 18 Jan 2024; Accepted: 30 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Martínez-Martínez, Reyes-Martínez, Mideros Mora, Sánchez Pilco and Rodriguez Salme. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Oscar A. Martínez-Martínez, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Mexico

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