Latin America has worse unemployment and food insecurity than pre-pandemic

A survey by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) pointed out that Latin America and the Caribbean come to the end of 2021 with fewer formal jobs, lower income and greater food insecurity than in the pre-pandemic period.

Among the most affected countries appear Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. Despite receiving support from governments with financial incentives – such as Emergency Aid – about 50% of families have not returned to the income levels they had before Covid-19.

To CNN Radio, researcher in the area of ​​Applied Economics at FGV IBRE Daniel Duque said that the countries “are part of those that have been extremely affected by the pandemic in terms of health.”

“This had an impact on the economy. As a result of panic, people reduced their workload, looked for jobs, schools closed and took too long to reopen. In developed countries there was an effort to open as soon as possible”, he added.

According to Duque, the issue of schools in Brazil contributes to the food insecurity component: “It is an important policy, as many children who are from the most vulnerable group depended on schools for meals. All of this created an issue that aggravated food insecurity.”

“We are a region with strong informality, service sector, more susceptible to being affected by containment measures, reduced movement. All of this makes a perfect storm for the countries mentioned in the study”, he assessed.

According to the study, women are also the most affected, with the highest unemployment rate. About 40% of those over 18 years old with children between 0 and 5 years old have lost their jobs. The overall female population lost 39% compared to 18% for men.

With production by Bel Campos