- Care work is an essential economic activity in the region, yet most of those who perform it, predominantly women, work without contracts, without social security, and with unstable incomes.
- Countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, and Costa Rica have made progress through regulatory frameworks, certification programs, and national care systems to professionalize the sector.
- Formalizing and protecting caregivers is a strategic investment in the face of the accelerating aging of Latin America and the Caribbean.
At six in the morning, before the city wakes up, someone is already working. Not in an office or a factory. In a home, helping another person start their day: getting up, getting dressed, remembering a pill, holding a conversation.
That work, as everyday as it is indispensable, barely appears in labor statistics. But it should. Because behind that daily scene lies one of the most profound and least visible transformations in Latin America and the Caribbean: the aging of its population and the growing demand for care.
The report Who Cares? How to Support and Ensure Recognition for Caregivers for Older People in Latin America and the Caribbean exposes a paradox: an activity essential to the region's well-being remains, largely, unrecognized work.
Many caregivers, the majority of whom are women, work without contracts, without access to social security, and with unstable incomes. This reality exposes them to risks, unemployment, or an old age without protection, while also limiting their ability to build a career. The lack of formal recognition of skills and experience reinforces this cycle: without training or certification, opportunities to advance in the labor market shrink, perpetuating precarity.
On top of informality, caregivers face complex working conditions: long hours, high emotional burden, and little institutional support. Moreover, since this work is often performed inside the home, it falls outside the radar of labor inspections.
The result is a sector with low pay and high turnover, where sustaining a career over time is difficult.
Not everything is a deficit: in recent years, several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have begun shifting pieces to transform care into a source of decent employment.
Countries like Uruguay and Chile are betting on professionalizing care. Through training and certification programs, they seek to move caregiving from an informal skill to a recognized occupation. This improves service quality and opens doors to better wages and more stable career paths.
Formalizing care work means entering difficult terrain: the home. Even so, countries like Argentina have advanced with specific regulatory frameworks that include caregivers within the domestic work regime. Minimum wage, defined working hours, and access to social security are concrete steps toward reducing precarity.
The cases of Uruguay and Costa Rica stand out for their comprehensive approach. Their national care systems define quality standards, regulation, and professionalization of care, promote training, and generate more stable demand for formal employment. Other countries, such as Colombia, are moving in the same direction.
Technology is also beginning to play a role in the care sector. Digital platforms, some supported by the IDB and IDB Lab, seek to connect caregivers with families in need of support. Through these online applications, caregivers can document their experience, receive ratings, and improve their employability. In other words, they serve as a bridge between informality and a more transparent market.
Despite the progress, changes are still insufficient given the magnitude of the challenge. To consolidate a care sector that generates quality employment, deeper reforms are needed.
Among them, the report highlights the need to simplify access to social security systems, especially for workers with fragmented or hourly employment schemes. Clear incentives for formalization are also required, along with better coordination between social, labor, and fiscal policies.
The future of care in Latin America and the Caribbean will depend on countries' ability to recognize this work for what it is: an essential economic activity.
Formalizing, professionalizing, and protecting those who care is a strategic investment in societies that are aging and will increasingly need quality care.
Download the publication and learn more: Who Cares? How to Support and Ensure Recognition for Caregivers for Older People in Latin America and the Caribbean