Following the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Guatemala, the business sector assures that in order to reduce illegal migration from Central America to the US, it is necessary to create a favorable and comfortable environment for local and foreign investment in the countries of the region.
As part of Harris' visit to Guatemala, Agexport prepared a document with proposals that reflect the experience it has accumulated over many years, incorporating Guatemalans and small rural businesses into export chains, generating income that allows them to remain in their territories.
During the February to April 2021 quarter, the unemployment rate rose to 17.3%, a level that is lower than the 18.7% reported during the first three months of the year, a decrease that is reported in the context of the economic reactivation.
For the quarters between February, March and April 2020 to the last available quarter, the country has experienced significant impacts in the main indicators, as a result of a higher participation of people and greater access to the labor market due to the lifting of some sanitary measures arising from the Covid-19 sanitary emergency, informed the National Institute of Statistics and Census.
As a result of the economic crisis during June 2020 the number of workers contributing to the Salvadoran Social Security Institute decreased to 810 thousand, in the following months the figures improved and in March 2021 the figure rose to 861 thousand.
According to the report corresponding to March 2021 of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS), the different economic activities report a sustained recovery, especially the sectors that were mostly affected by the economic downturn such as commerce, restaurants, hotels and services.
For the mobile quarter from December 2020 to February 2021, the unemployment rate in the country decreased to 18.5%, a proportion that is slightly lower than the 19% reported for the period from November to January last year.
In this quarter, the unemployed population was 452 thousand people, an increase of 142 thousand people compared to the same mobile quarter of the previous year, informed the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).
The labor market reports a structural change, as fewer and fewer people are being paid a fixed salary for their work, while at the same time the number of employees earning per project is increasing.
Although the trend has been reported globally for several years, the pandemic accelerated this process, as the economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 outbreak destroyed thousands of formal jobs.
For the moving quarter from November 2020 to January 2021, the unemployment rate in the country decreased to 19%, which is slightly lower than the 20% reported for the period from October to December last year.
For the quarters from the first quarter (January to March 2020) to the last available quarter, the country has experienced a situation in the labor market that has generated significant impacts in the main indicators, as a result of the measures that generate restriction to the labor market and the labor situation caused by the Covid-19 health emergency, informed the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).
Between December 2019 and the same month of 2020, the number of employees contributing to Social Security decreased 3%, a fall that is explained by the economic crisis generated by the outbreak of covid-19.
Official data show that Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango and Guatemala were the most affected departments, as the drop in the number of contributors in these regions amounted to 9%, 7% and 4.5%, respectively.
On third debate, Panama approved the legislative bill that aims at gradually reintegrating employees to their companies, which have already restarted their activities and which in 2020 suspended labor contracts due to the crisis caused by the covid-19 outbreak.
The National Assembly approved on February 24 bill No.542, submitted by the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), which allows the gradual reinstatement of workers with suspended contracts, recognizes the payment of maternity leaves to workers with suspended contracts, the return of disabled people and establishes temporary measures to preserve employment and stability of the companies, details an official statement.
In Panama, the first debate was approved in the first debate of the legislative project that intends to gradually reintegrate the employees to their companies, the same that have already restarted their activities and that in 2020 suspended labor contracts due to the crisis caused by the covid-19 outbreak.
The bill legalizing the gradual reintegration of suspended contract workers to their companies, which will be in force until the end of the year, has been pending in the National Assembly since February 8, after being submitted to the Presidency by the Minister of Labor, Doris Zapata.
As a result of the crisis caused by the covid-19 outbreak, during the second quarter of 2020 the unemployment rate at national level rose to 24%, for the period from July to September it decreased to 22% and in the last three months of the year it fell to 20%.
Regarding the unemployed population, for the IV Quarter of 2020 it was estimated at 488 thousand people, of these 240 thousand are men and 248 thousand women, the unemployed population increased by 178 thousand people on a year-on-year basis, 97 thousand men and 81 thousand women, informed the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).
During the mobile quarter from September to November 2020, the unemployment rate at the national level stood at 21.3%, which is lower than the 21.9% reported from August to October of the same year.
For the mobile quarter September, October and November 2020, the population of 15 years of age and older with an incidence of labor due to the effect of Covid-19 was 1.07 million people (26.7%), according to an official report.
Due to the economic crisis it is estimated that by the end of 2020 Panama will have 400 thousand new unemployed and the unemployment rate will climb to 25%, assuming that the country generates between 45 thousand to 50 thousand jobs annually, it will take about eight years for the recovery to take place.
The outbreak of covid-19 caused a serious economic crisis in the country, since due to the spread of the disease the authorities have decreed severe home quarantines, mobility restrictions and have limited some productive activities.
In the current scenario of economic crisis, during the mobile quarter from August to October 2020 the unemployment rate at the national level was 21.9%, a proportion similar to the 22% reported from July to September.
The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) reported that for the August, September and October 2020 moving quarter, the population of 15 years old and older with an incidence of labor due to the effect of Covid-19 was 1.13 million people (28.3%). The incidence of labor in the labor force was estimated at 981,000 people (40.8%). A total of 474,000 employed people (25.2%) have some incidence of the pandemic in the workplace. Of the unemployed, 507,000 people (96.3%) were affected in their search for employment. Finally, the labor incidence caused by the emergency affected about 154 thousand people (9.6%) outside the workforce.
In the current scenario of economic crisis, during the third quarter of the year the unemployment rate nationwide stood at 22%, a proportion that is lower than the 24.4% reported for the mobile quarter from May to July.
According to the report released by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), 42% of the people who were unemployed during the third quarter of 2020 said that they had less than three months to look for work.
After the unemployment rate in the United States fell from 15% to 8% between April and August, it became evident that at the beginning of the crisis the capacity of recovery that the North American country could develop was underestimated and it is expected that this behavior could boost the economic activity in Central America.
During the first half of 2020, when the first cases of covid-19 began to be reported in the region, forecasts noted that the recovery of economic activity would be excessively slow, due to a significant drop in consumption globally.
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