Labor markets during COVID-19: gaps and challenges in Latin America

Introduction The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latin American labor markets continue to be quantified, to identify the social and economic impacts that this pandemic had, and to design more efficient public policies that would protect the most vulnerable groups. For this reason, the research question was as follows: what were the changes in the labor formality rates before and two years after the main contingency measures of the COVID-19 pandemic were implemented?Methods Using data from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay, the formality rate (tau) was analyzed, which was calculated using a weighted average between the formal employment rates of the number (i) of economic sectors (p) in a specific period (t).Results The results suggest that the weighted labor formality rate increased in the countries of the region. These changes in formality could be the result of greater capital accumulation, the integration of productive processes, the integration of commercialization processes, and differentiated fiscal stimuli (i.e., the intrasectoral aspect), but it was not due to the displacement of workers from highly informal economic sectors to more formalized sectors (i.e., the intersectoral component).Discussion The findings emphasized the precarious situation of women in the region, regardless of the country, particularly in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. These findings suggest the need to design public policies that reverse the current situation of the labor market and prevent future economic shocks, with special emphasis on the informal sector and women.