This post is also available in:

Declining commodity prices and slower growth in China are major forces behind the pronounced economic deceleration that Latin America and the Caribbean has been experiencing since 2012. Growth for LAC this year is likely to be around 0 percent, down from 1.0 percent in 2014. This slowdown is beginning to have an impact on the region’s labor markets and is the subject of the “Jobs, Wages, and the Latin American Slowdown,” a semmiannual report of the Office of the  Chief Economist for LAC at the World Bank. The report was launched at an October 6, 2015 event preceding the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, held in Lima, Peru. 

Inter-American Dialogue President Michael Shifter participated in a panel discussion at the presentation of the report alongside Peruvian Ambassador to the United States Luis Miguel Castilla and World Bank experts Augusto de la Torre, chief economist for LAC, Alberto Rodriguez, country director for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, and Alejandra Viveros, communications manager for LAC.

Michael Shifter’s written remarks are available in Spanish. Video recordings are available in English below as well as in Spanish and Portuguese. The complete report is available only in English. The executive summary of the report is also available in Spanish.