The gender pay gap describes the average difference in hourly wages between male and female workers with similar qualifications and experience. In Latin America and the Caribbean, studies have documented this gap across all economies.
The lack of long-term care services increases hospital costs and can make healthcare systems unsustainable. In Mexico, older people with functional limitations—those who need long-term care—are up to 23 percentual points more likely to be hospitalized than functionally independent individuals. Once hospitalized, they are also more likely to stay longer.
Technological changes such as automation, digitalization, and artificial intelligence are transforming labor markets worldwide. In Brazil, these transformations pose particular challenges due to the high share of workers in low-skilled occupations and persistent labor market inequalities. Studies estimate that more than 50 percent of jobs in the country are at risk of automation in the coming decades, especially those held by women and Black workers.
Hospital beds are a scarce resource in Latin America and the Caribbean, yet many are taken up by patients whose conditions could be managed outside the hospital, for example in clinics or doctors’ offices, according to a new IDB analysis.
In Latin America, only 3 out of 10 young people aged 18 to 24 attend post-secondary education. While this marks progress since 2006, wide disparities persist: youth from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to access to post-secondary education than those in vulnerable conditions. Women continue to have higher attendance rates than men. Despite ongoing challenges, including a decline in 2020 due to the pandemic, the region has made progress in completion: 2 out of 10 young adults (25- to 34-year-old) have earned a higher education degree.
Over the past two decades, Latin America has made notable progress in secondary education access and completion. However, the transition to post-secondary education directly after completing upper secondary education remains limited. On average, while 7 out of 10 young people complete secondary education, only 3 out of 10 enroll in post-secondary education, and just 2 out of 10 earn a post-secondary education degree. Despite these gains, access to post-secondary education remains limited, and completion rates among those who enroll continue to be low.
Informality remains a central feature of the Brazilian labor market, affecting around 38 percent of the workforce. Although the country experienced a significant decline in informality during the 2000s, mainly due to rising education levels, progress has since stagnated. Informality continues to disproportionately affect low-income workers, women, and Black Brazilians. This publication reviews rigorous impact evaluations to identify which policies and program characteristics are most effective in promoting formalization.
This report examines the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system in Trinidad and Tobago, presenting an overview of its current status, challenges, and options for reform. Stakeholder consultations and international comparisons highlight persistent issues of fragmented governance, limited coordination, declining resources, limited engagement of employers, and the absence of a comprehensive labour market information system, which affect the systems ability to respond to demographic change, economic diversification, and digital transformation.
This presentation offers an overview of the range of services and solutions developed by the Adaptive Social Protection Team within the Social Protection and Labor Market Division at the IDB.
The report quantifies the rising demand for long-term care workers in one of the most rapidly aging regions worldwide. It highlights the precarious working conditions of paid care workers, the consequences of caring for unpaid carers as well as the limited training opportunities and the particular burden on women for both groups of workers.