Jared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila
La Jornada newspaper
Thursday, February 13, 2025, p. 4
The growing migratory flow due to the deportation of people from the United States will generate Pressures to labor markets
From Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Labor Organization (ILO) warned, while noting that governments must prepare to meet nationals and solve the additional demand for jobs.
It is still early to predict the magnitude of the impact, but what the increasing migratory flows have left us as a lesson is that the entry of migrant workers seeking to occupy generates pressures to labor markets
said Gerson Martínez, specialist at the ILO Regional Office.
During the virtual presentation of a regional employment report, he reiterated that public employment services will play a role clue
In the care of migrants, of whom, he stressed, it is important to take advantage of the potential and skills they can contribute to the destination countries.
Regarding the imposition of tariffs by the United States, the specialist declared that the impact will depend on both the tariff levels and the time they remain established.
The sectors that have the greatest export vocation, such as primary and industrial
he mentioned.
Gerson Martínez said that although Mexico has shown recovery in salary and job creation, high levels of informality remain a challenge for the country, as in the rest of the region.
The report Labor Panorama 2024 from Latin America and the Caribbean It reveals that between 2023 and 2024, the occupation rate in the region increased 0.5 percentage points, and stood by 58.9 percent, while the unemployment rate went from 6.5 to 6.1 percent.
However, among the structural challenges that persist are informality, although it was reduced slightly, from 48 percent in 2023 to 47.6 percent in 2024.
These indicators are still below the 2014 levels, which reflects that job creation remains insufficient. We are at the same point as a decade ago. Economic growth slows down and structural deficiencies in employment generate
said the regional director of the ILO for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ana Virginia Moreira.
Regarding the work gaps between men and women, he explained that in the second quarter of 2024, the female participation rate was 52.1 percent, significantly lower than that of men (74.3 percent). In addition, they earn on average 20 percent less than men.
Meanwhile youth employment remains one of the greatest challenges for the region, as the unemployment rate went from 14.5 percent in 2023 to 13.8 percent in 2024, but it is almost three times greater than that of adults, according to The ILO.
