Employment quality reaches record high in Latin America and the Caribbean - IDB

Employment quality in Latin America and the Caribbean reached its highest level in 2024, according to an index by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Even so, the region still face significant challenges: seven in ten workers do not contribute to social security, and young people face greater difficulties in accessing good jobs.

These are the main findings of the 2026 edition of the Better Jobs Index, produced by the IDB’s Labor Observatory, which analyzes labor market trends across 17 countries using data from 2010 to 2024.

The regional Better Jobs Index increased from 54.9 to 58.0 points between 2010 and 2024, driven primarily by improvements in income. The indicator measuring whether wages are sufficient to keep workers out of poverty rose from just over 40 points to more than 50 during this period. The indicator measuring employment quantity remained stable at 75.4 points. Despite these gains, progress in job quality remains insufficient, at just 40.6 points out of 100: informality stood at 69%, and approximately half of the working-age population still faced labor poverty.