TWELFTH INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
OF LABOR MINISTERS
October 17-19, 2001
Ottawa, Canadá
ECLAC STATEMENT ON THE LABOR AND SOCIAL
DIMENSIONS OF GLOBALIZATION
OAS/Ser.K/XII.12.1
TRABAJO/doc.25/01
17 October 2001
Original: Spanish
UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
XII INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF LABOUR
(Ottawa, 17 October 2001)
ECLAC STATEMENT ON THE LABOUR AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF
GLOBALIZATION
Assessing the labor and social dimensions of globalization in the Americas is of the
utmost importance. Governments, social actors and international organizations working in the
region require a more thorough evaluation of these dimensions so that they can devise or
propose policies to enhance the benefits derived from globalization and counter its unwanted
consequences. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
actively participates in this process and welcomes this opportunity to share with you a brief
account of the activities it has undertaken in this area.
According to ECLAC estimates, since 1991 unemployment rates have trended
upward. In fact, the sluggish pace of growth in the 1990s translated into an increase in urban
unemployment from 5.8% at the beginning of the decade to 8.7% in 1999. Furthermore, with
some exceptions, real wages have increased only slowly and, in some cases, have actually
decreased in recent years. In addition, the slow, unstable economic growth of the region in
the past few years has been centered, in many countries, in dynamic, capital-intensive sectors
or in natural resource-based activities, which has displaced workers whose specific skills
have become less valuable as a result. This has come on top of increasingly significant
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increases in the working-age population and in its members' participation in the labor market.
This situation is compounded by structural gaps between the types of work available and the
skills possessed by today's workforce owing to changes in technology and in the production
structure.
Furthermore, the technological and organizational changes occurring both in business
enterprises and within the economy as a whole during the last decade, which are undoubtedly
associated with the efforts countries have made to optimize their linkages with global
markets, have helped to heighten social inequity. Growth in employment and income has
been concentrated in a smaller group, a fact reflected by the broadening of the wage gap
between workers having different levels of education. The expansion of the wage gap is
closely linked to and reinforced by the structural segmentation of the labor market, which is
divided into formal or modern segments offering good working conditions, and others with
low productivity and substandard conditions. These segments are differentiated, among other
things, by the stability of employment, levels of compensation and productivity, opportunities
to take training and refresher courses, the length of periods of unemployment, turnover in
jobs and employers, social security coverage, work environment and the presence or absence
of labor contracts.
In short, the employment situation in the region is seriously lacking in terms of
employment levels, as well as exhibiting marked inequities in access to productive jobs and
deterioration in social welfare systems. These trends deepened towards the end of the decade
as the region's economies quickly fell victim to contagion from the financial crisis (a
consequence of the globalization of financial markets) and represent important challenges for
a strategy of growth with equity.
Both cyclical and structural factors underlie the region's insufficient employment
levels. Furthermore, there are certain population groups that are systematically denied access
to productive employment or are subject to recurrent periods of unemployment. In light of
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these phenomena, society needs to restore mechanisms to deal with the situation, including
policies which, in the long term, will boost productive employment levels and permit the
establishment of a labor scheme that fosters increased productivity and competitiveness, the
creation of conditions conducive to appropriate incorporation in the labor market of sectors
that are disadvantaged or are discriminated against, and the adoption of systems designed to
mitigate the effects of business cycles.
Against this backdrop ECLAC has carried out a number of activities dealing with the
labor market. All of them are based on the institution’s comparative advantages in analytical
terms, but they are also oriented towards the generation of public policy proposals. This
presentation will focus on three projects dealing with impact of economic reforms, the
competitiveness of women in labor markets and the policies required to improve technical and
professional training.
In conjunction with researchers from nine countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and Peru) ECLAC prepared a study entitled Growth,
Employment and Equity: The Impact of Economic Reforms in Latin America and the
Caribbean, which includes a module on labor markets in the region. One feature of the
project that distinguishes it from other comparative studies of economic reform is that it
disaggregates regional data and then explores the differences to be found across countries
and, at the microeconomic level, in the conduct of companies according to sector, size and
ownership. Government policies in such spheres as structural reform affect different
countries and groups of companies in different ways, as does the globalization of the
economy.
The differing effects of reforms are also evident in labor markets, and the study's
findings attest to their profound heterogeneity. This diversity is partly due to the special way
in which labor markets work, as reflected in the fact that some segments are driven by labor
demand and others by supply. This analysis thus differs from those which start from the
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premise of homogeneous labor markets or which argue that their segmentation stems from
politically induced distortions. Such approaches fail to capture the inherent dynamics of the
region’s labor markets. In that context, the evidence shows that it is mistaken to speak (as
some do) of "jobless growth", but that some sectors have indeed suffered a significant decline
in labor intensity. As mentioned before, the productive restructuring triggered by reforms has
not only affected job creation, but has also had a marked impact on the composition of
employment. Changes within and between sectors have created a labor demand bias in favor
of more educated workers, and this tends to aggravate labor market segmentation. This
analysis clearly reveals the magnitude of the challenge facing the region in terms of creating
more and better quality jobs.
In relation to the impact of globalization on the status of women, with the support and
cooperation of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the Women and
Development Unit of ECLAC is implementing a project on gender mainstreaming in ECLAC
and sect oral ministries.
The aim of the project is to generate more efficient public policies in terms of social
and gender equity against the backdrop of several globalization-related developments
involving an increase in economic competition, and liberalization policies accompanied by
the downsizing of the State apparatus, and a call for its "modernization" with a view to
making public institutions less costly and bureaucratic and more democratic and effective in
fulfilling their mandates in pursuit of general well-being. The project is being focused on
labor policy because this is one of the areas where the link between economic and social
aspects of development is most apparent and because, as already mentioned, countries in the
region have encountered significant challenges in implementing labor policies that can ensure
quality employment for all. Moreover, women still face many obstacles that hinder their entry
and continuance in the labor market, especially in stable, good-quality jobs, while households
rely increasingly on women’s salaries for their subsistence; at the same time many production
systems are also coming to depend increasingly —and in some cases already
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predominantly— on the female labor force.
The project activities focus on the analysis of the employment situation and capacitybuilding for advocacy in favor of more equitable labor policies in one specific economic
sector in each one of the three countries involved: the health sector in Argentina, tourism in
Ecuador and the export-processing (maquila) industry in El Salvador. The selection of these
sectors was undertaken jointly with the respective governments on the basis of their strategic
importance for each country, their dynamism and the degree of structural reform they have
undergone.
The project has generated analyses of these sect oral labor markets —from a gender
perspective— that have served as policy-making inputs. A distinctive feature of the project is
that, right from the beginning, all of its activities have been designed to promote inter-sect
oral and inter-agency collaboration. National women’s offices have taken a leading role in the
project’s inter-sect oral coordination, which has provided the relevant ministries of labor and
other sect oral ministries (e.g., health in Argentina; tourism in Ecuador), other public
institutions, private enterprise, workers’ organizations and other non-governmental
institutions with a platform for collaboration and negotiation oriented towards the
achievement of shared objectives. In a second phase, activities will be aimed at guaranteeing
the sustainability of the process in the three countries presently involved and at extending it
to other countries in the region. It has already been decided that the next country to be
brought into the project will be the Dominican Republic.
In addition to this project ECLAC, in cooperation with UNIFEM and the National
Council for Women's Rights of Brazil, is organizing a high-level panel on globalization, trade
liberalization and gender equity, to take place in São Paulo in November of this year. We are
pleased to report that several ministries of labor, finance, economic affairs and other sectors
have already confirmed their attendance at this meeting.
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In view of the fact that improving individuals’ capacities and skills is one way to help
overcome inequality, or at least poverty, ECLAC is implementing a project —once again
with the support and co-operation of the GTZ— entitled “Policies to improve technical and
professional training in Latin America and the Caribbean”. This project is based on the results
of previous research, which indicates that the available vocational training in the region has
not contributed sufficiently to social development and does not adequately meet businesses’
need for qualified workers. In fact, the search for standard vocational training models for
overcoming the prevailing shortcomings in this regard has proven to be unsuccessful. The
heterogeneity existing at all levels with respect to demand, existing supply and the
corresponding environment is simply too great. Given this situation, vocational training can
only make an effective contribution to economic and social development if it is geared to the
current and future economic and social needs of the specific environment concerned.
The project focuses on six countries in the region —Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Mexico— and is aimed at generating concrete strategies
and policy recommendations for vocational training in the region that will enable political
decision-makers, employer and employee associations, individual companies, executing
agencies, and bilateral and multilateral vocational-training cooperation projects and
institutions to adapt the available options to the highly differentiated requirements of
different contexts.
Looking ahead, ECLAC will continue to analyze the globalization process as a basis
for the development of policy proposals designed to make the most of opportunities while
reducing the vulnerabilities of countries in the region. To this end, ECLAC is preparing two
documents for its next session. One presents a comprehensive diagnosis of the impact which
globalization is having on the region, while the other puts forward a series of policy
proposals.
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This analysis will be based upon extensive research work carried out over the last few
years on the macroeconomic phenomena generated by globalization, the new features and
trends of trade and financial flows, the impact of new technologies on production patterns
and the ensuing social effects, particularly those transmitted through the labor market. The
second document will set forth a working concept of globalization that is built around its dual
dimension, i.e., the globalization of markets and of values. It will also present an agenda for
public action at the global, regional and national levels. At the global level, the emphasis
will be placed on the need for adequate institutional frameworks for globalization that are
capable of reconciling efficiency with solidarity. The document will also stress the need for
comprehensive national strategies vis-à-vis globalization, and will discuss the degree of
autonomy prevailing at the regional level.
ECLAC is pleased to place all the experience it has gained through the
implementation of these activities —and, indeed, the entire range of its institutional
endowment as it relates to the assessment of the labor and social dimensions of globalization
in the Americas— at the service of the ministries of labor of the region.