Adequate employment reaches 35.4% and underemployment falls in Ecuador

Adequate employment rose 1.9 percentage points in the last year.

In comparison, underemployment fell by 2.4 percentage points, which would reveal an improvement in the Ecuadorian labor market according to the latest INEC statistics on Tuesday.

Likewise, unemployment stood at 4.1% in September, eight-tenths less than a year ago.

“The unemployment rate at the national level reached 4.1% compared to 4.9% in the same period last year; that is, it experienced a non-significant reduction of 0.8 percentage points.”

“When disaggregated by area, the unemployment rate was 5.2% for the urban area, while for the rural area it was 2%”, states the report.

These data translate into 354,324 people currently unemployed, which was 412,441 a year ago.

In addition, the increase in adequate employment means that 234,069 people were added to this condition and currently have a job with all the benefits of the law.

In September 2021, 2′843,732 people were fully employed (33.5%), while in September this year, that number rose to 3′077,801 (35.4%).

Another relevant fact is the reduction of underemployment. Some people received incomes below the minimum wage, worked less than the legal working day, and had the desire and availability to work additional hours. In one year, this rate fell from 22.7% to 20.3%.

Despite the improvement in most indicators, most Ecuadorian workers remain in the informal sector, with 52.1%.

Employment in the informal sector is operationally defined as working in productive units of less than 100 workers that do not have a Single Taxpayers Registry (RUC).

In contrast, employment in the formal sector is defined as working in establishments with an RUC.

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