Skin color: a determinant to get a job?

First modification: 07/09/2023 – 00:55

In its 2022 Economy and Development report, the CAF (Development Bank of Latin America) warned that one of the barriers for millions of workers is race. “The darker the skin color, the greater the chance of being unemployed,” the document says.

In this regard, CAF’s Director of Knowledge, Verónica Frisancho, explained that “ethnicity and race become attributes that are transmitted from generation to generation and likewise discrimination in the labor market is perpetuated.”

The study, recently released from the Peruvian capital, Lima, reveals that there is a disadvantage between people with lighter skin and dark skin, which is evidenced by a seven-point difference in the unemployment rate between the two ethnic groups.

Concentration of wealth and income

Another factor that determines access to formal jobs or better remuneration is the city where one was born or even the neighborhood where the parents live. The study emphasizes that the opportunities are proportional to the place of residence of the family. In fact, there are marked differences between the urban and rural environment.

Likewise, according to the CAF, in Latin America the concentration of income and wealth is also related to barriers to equitable access to the labor market.

“The poorest have access to a very basic savings account and receive a very low interest rate, while the richest have at their disposal a series of instruments with higher returns in the financial markets”Frisancho explained.

Social and economic inequality in the region is a phenomenon that tends to increase, according to the CAF analysis, so the study represents an x-ray of the factors that must be taken into account in the rest of the region’s countries.

In the coming weeks, the results of this study will be shared in other countries, with the purpose of serving as input for adopting public policies aimed at promoting labor equality.