OPINION: Challenges for would-be leaders

The Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder, yesterday presented a worrying panorama on the situation of workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the ILO, 53% of workers in the region are informal, that is, 140 million people have a precarious income and lack full rights in their work activities. The data indicate that Latin America and the Caribbean have an unemployment rate of 8.8% of the economically active population, but women have higher unemployment, while that of young people is four times higher than that of adults. The Director-General of the ILO proposes a regional effort to protect the labor rights of Venezuelan migrants, guaranteeing equal wages and all the labor freedoms that make up decent work. The challenges identified by the ILO are clearly at the heart of the economic challenge of the next government. Instead of more of the same, it would be positive for presidential hopefuls to pay attention to the ILO, and for their proposals to face these economic and social challenges. – LA PRENSA, Nov.22