Macro Policy and Employment Problems in Latin AmericaThis paper was prepared for the 1998 IDB/IIC Annual Meeting entitled: The Employment in Latin America: What is the Problem and Should it be Addressed? held in Cartagena, Colombia in March 1998. Despite macroeconomic stabilization and structural reforms, employment problems have persisted in Latin America. The 1990s have seen a slowdown in the rate of job creation, and unemployment rates have stagnated at about 10 percent. Informal sector employment has expanded, and increases in real wages have been particularly favorable to skilled workers. Economic cycles explain fluctuations in the employment and unemployment rates, while price stabilization and structural reforms have affected the composition of labor demand and relative wages. |
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Annual Annual Annual apertura Argentina average bias toward skilled Bolivia cambio capital and skilled capital inflows Chile Colombia composition cost of capital Costa Rica demand for labor demand for skilled econometric economic growth Ecuador Financial Services growth rate higher IADB imported machinery inflows of capital informal employment informal sector Inter-American Development Bank Labor Demand Indicators labor market labor Skilled Unskilled Labor Total labor Labor Unskilled Labor Latin America Lora machinery and equipment macroeconomic Manufacturing Márquez Mexico National Housing Survey Nicaragua nontradable sectors Pagés panel with fixed Peru real exchange rate reduction relative demand relative prices relative remuneration Relative wages Skilled Labor Unskilled Skilled Unskilled Employment Skilled Unskilled Skilled skilled workers Source stabilization and structural structural reforms Székely Table Total labor Skilled tradable sectors Tradables without agriculture tradables without government trade unemployment rates Unskilled Labor Total Unskilled Skilled Unskilled Uruguay user cost Venezuela wage differentials wage stickiness World Bank