Table 2. Labour market trends for LOC and NO-LOC countries in Latin
America, 1990-2007
Country
groups
Variables 1990 2002 2007LOC
countries
Unemployment rate (%) 8.9 13.2 7.9
Share of informal employment 40.5 38.9 38.1
average wage index (2000=100) 92.2 98.6 103.4
Minimum wage index 86.1 100.4 138.6NO-LOC
countries
Unemployed 8.5 10.0 8.0*
Share of informal employment 48.5 53.7 49.2
Average wage index* (2000=100) 79.5 102.2 102.0
Minimum wage index (2000=100) 104.1 104.2 109.9
Source: authors’ compilation on ECLAC’s Badenso database and ECLAC’s 2008 Panorama Social,
ILO’s Labour Overview (various years), and data from national statistical offices for the initial and
last years.
Notes: Guatemala is not included in the average for 2007; the Dominican Republic and
Honduras are not included at all due to lack of data.
2.C. An improvement in the distribution of educational
achievements
Another factor that might have contributed to the recent fall in
income inequality is the rise in enrolment rates recorded at all
educational levels since the early-to-mid 1990s (Gasparini et al.
2009), and the subsequent reduction in enrolment inequality in
primary and secondary education. For instance, the probability that
a child from the bottom decile completes secondary education in
relation to that of a child from the top decile rose from 36.7% to
50% between 1990 and 2005 (CEPAL 2007a)^47. The surge in
enrolments raised also the average number of years of education of
the working population.
(^47) However, during the same period, the gap between rich and poor in accessing
tertiary education widened.