Unemployment decreases year-on-year in Ecuador from 6.2 to 4.9% (September)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Despite the political difficulties faced by the government of Guillermo Lasso in Ecuador, official statistics agencies reported employment growth of 2.7% and a decline in unemployment, underemployment, and non-full employment between 1% and 1.7% between September 2020 and September 2021.

The National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) found significant statistical differences in the national report on employment, unemployment, and underemployment.

The comparisons noted by the Public Statistical Institute between September 2020 and September 2021 are as follows: Inadequate employment shows an increase from 30.8% to 33.5%; Unemployment shows a decrease from 6.2% to 4.9%; Underemployment shows a decrease from 24.4% to 22.7%; Non-full employment shows a decrease from 26.2% to 27.6%; Unpaid work shows a decrease from 11.8% to 10.8%.

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Roberto Castillo, director of INEC, explained that in May 2021, the unemployment level was 6.3% which means approximately 538,000 unemployed people. However, in September 2021, the figure closed at 4.9%, representing about 412,000 unemployed persons. The variation between May and September is 125,000 fewer unemployed people who moved to a paid work position.

For the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency, the number of employees could be even higher. A statement informed this Monday, October 25, 2021, that 275,000 suitable jobs had been generated in Ecuador in the last four months.

For the National Government, adequate employment could have increased in the order of 3.48% during that time because “In May of this year only 30.02% of the population had adequate employment and now this figure has risen to 33.5%,” the official statement said.

“We recovered dignity by providing quality jobs to thousands of Ecuadorians. The figure for adequate employment has risen to 33.5%, according to the latest National Survey of Employment, Unemployment, and Underemployment (Enemdu). In total, we have generated 275 thousand new suitable jobs,” said President Guillermo Lasso on his Twitter account.

Ecuador is facing an economic crisis aggravated by the pandemic, which is reflected in a foreign debt of almost US$46 billion (45% of GDP) and a fiscal deficit of close to 5% of GDP, in addition to 47% poverty and misery, and 28% underemployment and unemployment.

The Ecuadorian government will present to the National Assembly a package of tax and labor reforms to reactivate the economy, but labor unions and other popular sectors which have been participating since today in protests throughout the country fear that they are measures aimed at making labor more precarious.

The opposition dominates Ecuador’s National Assembly, made up of the party of former populist president Rafael Correa, the indigenous Pachakutik Movement, and the right-wing Social Christian Party.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed with the government of Guillermo Lasso to review Ecuador’s program due to the difficulties of the ruling party at the time of obtaining political support in the Ecuadorian legislature, however, insists on the gradual elimination of fuel subsidies, frozen by decision of President Lasso to try to calm the agitated political waters of the Andean country.

In the 2019 protests, indigenous people forced then-President Lenín Moreno, the predecessor of the current president, to backtrack on the elimination of subsidies agreed with the IMF, which for this year represented some US$1.9 billion.

Then-President Moreno issued a new decree that gradually eliminated the gasoline subsidy that is now the subject of discussion.

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