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Employment is the main source of income for the immense majority of the inhabitants of the region. Reliable and timely information on the situation in the labor market is vital for understanding the impact of policy decisions on the life of the population of our countries. With Labor Compass the IDB Research Department aims to provide data for a better and timelier understanding of the conditions and trends in regional labor markets. This publication is intended to be a guide for analysts and policymakers on recent trends in the labor market through the presentation of a graphic description of the state of the labor markets of the region’s key countries. In this edition, we report information on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela; in future editions we will expand the coverage of countries as information becomes available.
The situation in the labor market of each country is presented in three main groups of information. The first describes the structure of the labor market and captures in detail the impact of changes in inflation and growth on employment and unemployment. We present data from household surveys processed by the Social Information Service (SIS) on the changes in the structure of employment by type of worker (registered wage-earner, unregistered wage-earner, self-employed, etc), and by sector of activity during the last decade. With the objective of describing the impact of macroeconomic trends on the labor market, we also present data on the relation between unemployment and inflation, and between employment and growth.
The second and third blocks present high-frequency updated information reported by the countries on quantities and prices in the labor market. The information on quantities, given in the second block, describes short-term changes in the trends in employment and unemployment. We also provide information on rates of activity, employment, unemployment, underemployment and registration. This block ends with an estimate of the net generation of employment by period. The price data in the third block describes changes in minimum and real wages by group. This block ends with an estimate of labor costs per unit of output. A detailed explanation of each of these indicators is given in the glossary.
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