Public Policies Needed to Recover Lost Jobs

The labor sector in Mexico is still under pressure from the pandemic. Although recovery has begun, Mexico's central bank (Banxico) said this week, specific public policies are needed to prevent job losses caused by COVID-19 from becoming permanent. “It will be important for public policies to help control the pandemic and boost the recovery of the economy, supporting the growth of the labor market and preventing temporary job losses from becoming permanent,” the bank led by Alejandro Díaz de León warned in its 4Q20 report.

Banxico also said that home and family care and school closures are some of the reasons why women have been slower to re-enter the labor market. The bank’s ‘Labour Participation Rate in the Face of the COVID-19 Shock' study showed the number of women who are not interested in getting a job even if they are offered one has increased. According to INEGI data, of the 12.2 million jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic, about 7.5 million correspond to men and 4.6 million to women.  

“While the initial impact on employment for men and women was similar, the recovery has been uneven, with women showing a relatively slower employment recovery rate than men,” the bank explained in the report. As of December 2020, 81.3 percent of the jobs lost between February and May were recovered by men and 67.7 percent by women.

More news below: 

• We live in a “liquid world” that moves at a high but uneven speed, alerting us of the big risks that humanity will face in 2021, wrote this week for MBN Jorge Ponga, Partner of Humanologo Consulting. Young people are increasingly moving from one job to another and mobile phones are already more than humans on this planet, he said. This will present challenges in areas such as employability and digital gaps. Read the full article here. 

• After four successful years in Mexico, startup Runa is preparing to move to a new market: Brazil. Founded by entrepreneur Courtney McColgan, Runa provides a series of HR services including payroll management, performance and attendance tracking and insurance through an automated platform.

• The pandemic’s impact on jobs was greater for women, according to a World Bank study released this week. The organization noted the main reasons include social norms that put women in charge of children and elders. A higher number of women are also part of the informal economy, while they also tend to participate in sectors that were severely hit by the pandemic, like trade and services.

• The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (STPS) inaugurated this week the National Job Fair, which will promote more than 25,000 vacancies throughout the country through 52 virtual events in March.