Pandemic 10-year setback for women in LatAm labor market: UN agency - China.org.cn

The COVID-19 pandemic has set back the progress women in Latin America and the Caribbean made in the labor market by more than a decade, according to a special report released Wednesday by the Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

According to ECLAC's latest pandemic-related report "The economic autonomy of women in a sustainable recovery with equality," the rate of job market participation by women was at 46 percent in 2020, while for men it was 69 percent, in contrast to 2019, when "these rates were 52 percent and 73.6 percent, respectively."

In 2020, the study explains, "there was a mass exodus of women from the labor force, who have not returned to search for employment, having to attend to care demands at home."

What's more, the region's 7.7 percent plunge in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 and the impact of the health crisis on employment "are negatively affecting household income."

The United Nations regional organization estimates that around 118 million Latin American women are living in poverty, 23 million more than in 2019.