He Anif Center for Economic Studies presented its first quarterly labor market report in which it emphasizes the need to turn on the country's productive engines as soon as possible to prevent the bad moment of the economy from continuing to impact job creation and translating into an increase in the informality.
This report highlights that in relation to the employmentproductivity can be analyzed from different perspectives, the most important being the production performance of a worker or the value assigned to an employee's work.
To explain this better, Luz Magdalena Salas, vice president of Anifsaid that it must be kept in mind that a more productive workforce not only creates jobs with better salaries, but also increases the demand for human capital as a fundamental input in production.
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“We see in the February figures that many economic sectors had losses in the number of employed people of 50,000 or 100,000 jobs, and those that were growing did not do so at the same rate. This causes workers to begin to move between areas of economic activity.“said Salas.
This Anif spokesperson added that although this type of change in the dynamics of job creation is normal, “This greater participation is again not being compensated with a higher employment rate or with a greater number of people or jobs created in the labor market.”.
Informality
So things are, They project that the unemployment rate at the end of 2024 will be 11.3% and by December 2025 it will rise to 12.29%which shows that the country must get used to double-digit unemployment for a long time.
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This is why Luz Magdalena Salas warns that economic reactivation is essential, since if it does not happen, “The business sector would be affected and there would come a time when there would begin to be a change in the composition of the workforce.”.
“If more people go out to participate in the labor market and the jobs that are required are not generated… Unemployment figures like the ones we are observing in these first two months of the year are then observed.“added this expert, who reiterated that”We are in challenging times, especially in terms of unemployment rate and job creation.”.
The report suggests start with points such as the hourly remuneration of each workerreview your skills and the needs of the market, since it is not enough to train professionals or trained personnel if you do not have the demand that exists in society.
“Labor productivity varies between regions and economic sectors, showing significant differences in the contribution per worker…the regions furthest from urban centers tend to have lower levels of labor productivity, which affects their growth”they said.
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Another way to address this reality and improve both supply and demand in the labor market, for Anif, is part of “policies that reduce regional and sectoral disparities, as well as the importance of training to improve the relevance of workers in the labor market”.
Taking into account that, according to the Vice President of Anif, “The unemployment rate is not encouraging for this and next year. And that is also precisely due to what we are experiencing in terms of economic growth and our expectations for this and next year.”.
Informality.
The calculations of this study center also focused on the remuneration item and concluded that the activities that offer a better remuneration per hour are public administration ($12,200), the artistic ($12,090) and the professional, scientific and technical ($12,000).
In contrast, the activities with the lowest hourly remuneration are public services ($5,700), the Real estate activities ($5,200) and the agriculture ($3,900). It also highlights that in most sectors, the hourly wage does not exceed $7,000, indicating a relatively low value of labor in the labor market.
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“When comparing this indicator between the different sectors, we found that a farmer would work about 297 hours per month to receive an income of one minimum wage; while a worker classified in professional, scientific and technical activities would reach the same amount with 95 hours worked per month.”said Luz Magdalena Salas.
This phenomenon, according to the conclusions, not only reflects the geographical and economic inequalities within the country, sBut it also poses considerable barriers towards the formalization of employment, because formal hiring is relatively more costly in less developed regions and must be addressed with urgent policies..
DANIEL HERNÁNDEZ NARANJO
Portfolio Journalist
