Unemployment reaches record high across LatAm in 2016

The unemployment rate across Latin America and the Caribbean region has hit a new high in 2016 with 25 million people jobless, a report of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) said.

The ILO report released on Wednesday said the number was five million more than 2015, Xinhua news reported on Thursday.

The unemployment rate in the region rose to 8.1 per cent in 2016 from 6.6 per cent in 2015, a record high since the region data was collected a decade ago, the ILO said in the 'Labor Overview 2016' report.

It further said that the quality of labour has fallen as real salaries have dropped and informality has risen due to regional economic contraction.

This was estimated at 0.6 per cent to 0.9 per cent for 2016 by the International Monetary Fund.

Jose Salazar, the regional director of the ILO, called for measures to contain the rising unemployment.

The measures advocated by Salazar are taking urgent short-term actions to mitigate negative social impacts, boosting structural low-productivity and diversifying production.

He also called for the implementation of more infrastructure projects to stimulate economy.

The report said the region's chances of returning to growth in near or medium-term depends on internal public policies taken by individual countries.

Besides, strengthening of commercial and financial ties with the US, as well as providing answers to migration flows.

For 2017, ILO predicts the regional unemployment rate would rise from 0.3 per cent to 8.4 per cent.

--IANS

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