In April of last year, a variety of analysts announced the potential for a decline of over 20% in global remittances as a result of the pandemic. The anticipated losses of employment for the closure of businesses, as well as the closure of many of the businesses where migrants sent money and where their families received it, would have had a negative impact on remittances. If this prediction had come true, the families of migrants would have been dramatically impacted in a period in which the pandemic also was hitting the economies of the remittance receiving countries.

About a year ago, in March 2020, people worldwide were having their last workday in the office. Although life has slowly begun to return to some level of normalcy in some places, at least for now, in many others – perhaps most –, people with desk jobs are still working from home. 

Latin America and the Caribbean is known as one of the least equal regions in the world – and it is also unequal in terms of health. Did you know that digital tools can help reduce these inequalities?

“Try not to move so much during this next contraction so I can take your COVID-19 sample” was one of the phrases I had not planned on hearing prior to March 2020 as I was preparing for the birth of my first child in June. Neither was my midwife asking me six weeks post-partum “Can you adjust your phone so we can begin your breast exam over zoom?” or “Now lie on your back and push fingers under your belly button to see if we can determine the size of your diastasis recti…virtually” while I fumbled with my phone.

This blog was written jointly with Virpi Heinonen who is responsible for the cooperation initiatives and projects in the Latin America and the Caribbean at Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland. We work closely together with our partners to provide Finnish higher education know-how to the region.

Laura Ripani is a principal specialist in the Labor Markets Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in charge of coordinating the agenda for the future of work. He specializes in the area of ​​labor markets, with a particular interest in improving opportunities for young people.