The regions with the most adequate employment, with incomes of at least $425 per month, are those with the lowest number of poor people.
The 27.7% of the total Ecuadorian population is poor and lives with less than $85.60 per month. However, in three provinces of the country, poverty is lower than national levels.
A) Yes, Azuay is the second region with better rates of suitable employment (38.8% of employed inhabitants), only surpassed by Pichincha (43.6%).
On the other hand, he has a record of 17.6% of people with incomes that do not exceed $2.85 a day.
Alicia Mora, economist and sociologist, commented that there is a direct relationship between more formal work and less incidence of poverty.
“In Cuenca, and throughout Azuay, there is a strong industrial and commercial sector that it was better prepared to face the pandemic and the current economic crisis. Although the underemployment increased from 11% to 19% since 2021, it is still one of the lowest levels in Ecuador,” he said.
Underemployment doubles
The second region with less poverty It’s Pichincha. The 19.3% of its population have incomes of less than $3 per day. However, the percentage rose more than 6% from the 12.8% that it had before the arrival of the pandemic.
This reality is a consequence of the fact that, despite having the higher level of suitable employment (supported to a large extent in the public bureaucracy), at the same time there has been a jump of almost double in the underemployment.
Until 2019, the underemployed represented 12% of the Economically Active Population (PEA), but now the percentage reaches more than 21%.
Andrés Verdugo, an entrepreneur and economist from the capital, pointed out that the economic crisis deepened the arrival of internal migrants from the countryside; In addition, more and more young people enter the labor market.
“Not only Quito, but the entire country urgently needs a labour reform that facilitates legal contracting, especially for micro and small businesses. In addition, high expectations have been created about the Investment Law that is being discussed in the Assembly”, he pointed out.
in the gold
Third, with the lower poverty rate is El Oro. In that province, 21% of the population live with less than $85.60 per month. As in the two previous cases, it is also repeated that the level of adequate employment, with a salary of at least $425, is high compared to what is registered at the national level.
37.2% of the EAP in El Oro has a quality job. But the alerts are on because, since 2019, that percentage has dropped by 10 points, from 47.2%.
Thus, according to Mora, there is a deterioration in the labor market, as in the whole country. The difference is that the pandemic found this province in a better situation to face the crisis. (JS)
DATO: Las tres provincias más pobres del Ecuador son: Napo (59,4%), Orellana (55,6%) y Esmeraldas (52,9%).
