The Social Charter of the Americas and the elaboration of its Plan of Action Labor Component Evelyn Jacir de Lovo, Director of the Departament of Social

The Social Charter of the Americas and the elaboration of its Plan of Action

Labor ComponentEvelyn Jacir de Lovo, Director of the Departament of

Social Development and Labor, OASWorking Groups Meeting of the IACML – Bahamas, April 16-19, 2013

ERRADICACIÓN DE LA POBREZA

INCLUSION Y NO DISCRIMINACION ERRADICACIÓN DE LA POBREZA

Latin America and the Caribbean is by far the most unequal region in the world. The Gini index reaches 0.52, 0.08 points higher than Sub-Saharan Africa.

The poorest 40% of the population captures only the 15% of the total income while the wealthiest 10% owns a third of the total income.

The average income of the richest quintile is 18.3 times higher than the average income of the poorest quintile.

CHALLENGES - Inequality

LATIN AMERICA AND OTHER REGIONS OF THE WORLD: GINI COEFFICIENT,

CIRCA 2009

Average Maximum Minimum

This can be shown by the fact that poverty is not evenly distributed among the population, there are groups particularly affected: children, women, rural populations, persons belonging to an ethnic group and people with disabilities.

Although recent trends show decrease in poverty headcount, they also show an increase in the representation of these vulnerable groups within the poor.

Social exclusion is still present in many societies of the region.

CHALLENGES - Exclusion

Proof that poverty is not uniformly distributed throughout the population.

Sección 1 – Situación actual hemisférica

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•Children

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Children 0-14 years old / Persons over 14 years old


5

•Women

LATIN AMERICA (SIMPLE AVERAGE): INDEX OF POVERTY AMONG WOMEN, URBAN ZONE, APPROXIMATELY 1990-2008

Number of women for every 100 men in destitution

Number of women for every 100 men in poverty

• Rural population


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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Rural Area / Urban Area

However, there are still 174 million people living in poverty, including 73 million that live in extreme poverty. In absolute terms, there are more number of poor people in 2011 than in 1980.

Not Extremely Poor

Extremely Poor

AMÉRICA LATINA: EVOLUCIÓN DE LA POBREZA Y LA POBREZA EXTREMABetween 1990 and 2010, poverty

decreased from 48.4% to 31.4% of the population and extreme poverty from 22.6% to 12.3%. Thus, both indicators reached their lowest level of the past 20 years.

CHALLENGES - Poverty

LATIN AMERICA: EVOLUTION OF POVERTY AND EXTREME POVERTY

Mill

ions

of P

eopl

e

Urban Rural

Daily Grams per person

Products Urban Basket Rural Basket

French Bread 49 NA

Tortillas 223 402

Rice 55 39

Meat 1_ / 60 14

Fats 2 _ / 33 14

Eggs 28 30

Liquid Milk * 106 31

Fruits 3_ / 157 16

Beans 79 60

Vegetables 4_ / 127 NA

Sugar 69 65

# members per family 3.81 4.41

1_ / Beef, Pork, Poultry.

2_ / Oil, Margarine, Vegetable Lard.

3_ / Orange, Banana, Plantain.

4_ / Potato, Onion, Green Pepper, Tomato, Pear Squash, Cabbage.

Food Basket as a measure of poverty

Informal employment levels reach 50%. Affecting especially women and youth.

Unemployment, informality and inactivity increases at lower income levels. (Unemployment is 18% in the poorest decile while in the richest is 3.7%)

Labor income is not enough to escape poverty. Over 25% of the employed population lives in poverty or extreme poverty.

CHALLENGES - Labor

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES, AVERAGE TAKEN): UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, OCCUPATION RATE AND PERCENTAGE OF WORKERS IN THE FORMAL SECTOR OF THE ECONOMY (RELATIVE TO TOTAL EMPLOYED), BY INCOME DECILE, CIRCA 2005

Unemployment Rate Workers in Formal Economy Occupation Rate

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CHALLENGES – Social Protection

Only 46% of the employed population is affiliated to social security.

The workers with less access to social security are those with lower income, less educated, employed women with young children and youth. In 2009, the poorest quintile had affiliation levels close to 20% while the richest quintile reached the 58%.

The 36% of households do not have any kind of social protection (neither contributory nor non-contributory)

LATIN AMERICA (9 COUNTRIES): EMPLOYED POPULATION AFFILIATED WITH SOCIAL SECURITY, BY INCOME QUINTILE,

SIMPLE AVERAGE, CIRCA 1990, 2000, 2009 (In percentages)

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CHALLENGES – Education

Completion of secondary education is a basic condition for staying out of poverty during the active life. However, the completion rates are insufficient and are closely related to income. Thus, 24% (22%) of girls (boys) in the poorest quintile finish high school while in the richest quintile this percentage reaches the 83% (78%).

There remains an intergenerational transmission of opportunities and a certain degree of heritability of educational capital.

There is a clear need to improve the quality of education at all levels of education.

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES): YOUTH 20-24 YEARS OLD THAT COMPLETED THEIR SECONDARY EDUCATION, ACCORDING TO INCOME

LEVEL PER CAPITA AND SEX, CIRCA 2008(In percentages)

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CHALLENGES – Health

In Latin America and the Caribbean 218 million people lack health insurance and 100 million have geographic or economic barriers to access health coverage.

The probability of dying before reaching the age of 5 years is nearly double (1.7) in rural than in urban areas and almost three times higher (2.8) in the poorest quintile than in the richest .

Urban areas have between 8 and 10 times more medical personnel than rural areas. Indigenous people still face serious difficulties accessing health services.

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IN LIGHT OF THESE CHALLENGES …

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In July 2012 the Social Charter of the Americas was approved in the 42 General Assembly.

It is thus the natural complement to the Inter-

American Democratic Charter.

SOCIAL CHARTER OF THE AMERICAS

It is a policy framework that gives social policies a central role in

public policy.

“The peoples of the Americas have the right to development in the framework of solidarity, equity, peace, and freedom, and member states have the responsibility to

promote it with a view to eliminating poverty, especially extreme poverty, and achieving a decent standard of living for all.” (Article 1)

“The promotion of decent work, the fight against unemployment and underemployment, as well as addressing the challenges of informal labor are essential elements for achieving economic development with equity.

Respect for workers’ rights, equal employment opportunities, and improved working conditions are essential to attaining prosperity. Cooperation and social dialogue among government representatives, workers, employers, and other stakeholders promote good governance and a stable economy.

Observance of the International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up, adopted in 1998, helps to foster a quality workforce that drives economic and social progress and provides a basis for sustained and balanced growth and for social justice for the peoples of the Hemisphere.” (Article 8)

SOCIAL CHARTER OF THE AMERICAS

To operationalize this Charter, the General Assembly of the OAS decreed the preparation of a Plan of Action:

Based on the preambular and operative sections of the Charter and considering the existing mandates

Conceived for the attainment of specific and feasible goals

DRAFT PLAN OF ACTION

The Member States established a joint Working Group responsible for negotiating the Plan of Action.

STRUCTURE FOR THE PLAN OF ACTION

Purposes and guiding principles: Social justice with equity / Social inclusion / Poverty eradication

Crosscutting issues:•Gender Equity

•Priority attention to poor and vulnerable populations

•Sustainable dev. and the environment

Crosscutting methods:•Participation / Inter-sectorial action•Inter-american solidarity and coop.

•Respect for diversity •Promotion and observance of human rights

Enabling environment:•Economic growth with equity

•Democracy•Culture of transparency•Fight against corruption

•Legal certainty

Areas of intervention:

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CONTENT BASED ON DECLARATIONS AND PLAN OF ACTION OF THE IACML/OAS

LABOR IN THE DRAFT PLAN OF ACTION

OBJECTIVE: Improve the quality of existing employment and create greater opportunities for productive employment in conditions of equality and dignity.

STRATEGIC LINES OF ACTION:

1. Strengthen labor institutions as well as the management capacity of labor administrations

- Enhance effective enforcement of fundamental rights and principles

- Enhance and institutionalize social dialogue

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TRABAJO EN EL PROYECTO DE PLAN DE ACCION

STRATEGIC LINES OF ACTION (Continued...):

2. Promote gradual formalization of the informal economy, recognizing its heterogeneous and multidimensional nature

- Incentivize the formalization of enterprises

- Increase social protection coverage

- Improve safety and health conditions in the workplace

- Strengthen labor inspection and full observance of labor laws



LABOR IN THE DRAFT PLAN OF ACTION (Continued…)

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3. Improve job-market entry for poor and vulnerable sectors, in particular, young people and women- Improve the quality of technical and vocational training and gear it towards the development agenda - Broaden the coverage of and improve employment services- Remedy the slow transition from school to workplace - Strengthen labor market information systems and observatories- Reduce inequalities between men and women in the working world




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4. Promote business creation

- Synchronize macro- and microeconomic policies that stimulate business creation and productive employment opportunities.- Encourage micro-, small, and medium-sized businesses- Foster business enterprise and entrepreneurship




THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Department of Social Development and Employment Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI)

Documents

The Social Charter of the Americas and the elaboration of its Plan of Action Labor Component Evelyn Jacir de Lovo, Director of the Departament of Social