Labor Market Observatory of MERCOSUR Subsecretaria de Subsecretara

Labor Market Observatory of MERCOSUR Subsecretaria de Subsecretaría de Programación Técnica Programación Laborales Técnicay y. Estudios

MERCOSUR • On 1991 Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Agreement of Asuncion which gives formal origin to MERCOSUR, considering the economical and social integration as a fundamental condition to accelerate the economical development processes with social justice (Asuncion Agreement). • The main objective is the integration of the four Member States, through: –Free circulation of goods, services and productive factors, –The establishment of a common external fare, –Adoption of a common trade policy, –Coordination of sector and macro economic policies, –The harmonization of legislations in pertinent areas.

MERCOSUR • The Declaration of Ouro Preto on December-2004 highlights the advancements of the integration process: –Strengthening of Customs Union. –Agreement on Free Residency for Nationals of the Member States, as a tool that will contribute on the way towards free circulation. –Full running of the Review Committee of MERCOSUR. –Deployment of MERCOSUR Parliament on 2006. –Creation of the High Level Group for the elaboration of MERCOSUR Strategy on Employment Growth.

The Social-Labor Issue The Social-Labor Scopes: – Meeting of Ministers of Labor. – Work Subgroup N° 10 of the MERCOSUR: “Labor, Employment and Social Security Affairs”. – Follow up Committee of the Social- Labor Declaration of MERCOSUR. Achievements on the field of Social-Labor: – Multilateral Agreement on Social Security. – Social-Labor Declaration of MERCOSUR. – Recommendations on professional training practices. – Regional Conference of Employment (2004).

Functional Structure of the Observatory • The Observatory is a tripartite organism composed by: • A Management Council (1 representative for sector and country): –Establishes the periodically priorities and actions of the Observatory. –Identifies and establishes different cooperation types and exchange with public and private institutions, and national and international institutes. • A Technical-Executive Secretariat (with yearly rotation by country) that: –Carries out the administrative tasks. –Monitories the compliment of projects and work plans. –Gathers and systemizes information and studies.

The Labor Market Observatory of MERCOSUR A tool to measure the economic, trade and social integration impact. • The Observatory studies labor issues –Development of harmonized labor indicators. –Labor Conjuncture Bulletin. –Specific studies ( Employment policies, child labor, gender, migrations, etc. ). • The Observatory spreads the labor issues –Seminar «Integration, MERCOSUR and employment policies» –Website: www. observatorio. net

The Observatory studies Labor Issues • The study of labor issues at regional level requires homogeneous measurement tools. • Harmonization Project of Labor Indicators of MERCOSUR (International cooperation with ILO). • Promote an Common Living Inquiry among the countries of the region.

The observatory studies labor issues • MERCOSUR Conjuncture bulletin: –Annual periodicity. –Analyzes the conjuncture of labor markets of MERCOSUR countries from a regional perspective. • General Indicators (activity, employment, under employment y non-registered work). • Wage Indicators. • Employment Policies.

The observatory studies labor issues • Specific studies –Regional Analysis of MERCOSUR labor problematic. • Analyzed thematic: –Policies of employment (description, diagnosis, evaluation and recommendations). –Child labor (diagnosis, normative frame, policies and recommendations). –Diagnosis of the non-working population and protection systems (composition and evolution of unemployment, identification of vulnerable groups, proposed actions, programs coordination).

The Observatory spreads labor issues • Seminary «Integration, MERCOSUR and employment policies» –Gave room to the debate on the coordination of employment policies in the region. –Precedent for the Regional Employment Conference of MERCOSUR.

The Observatory spreads labor issues • Website of the Observatory: –Key diffusion medium. –Integrates dispersed information. –Permanent follow up. • The content of the site is organized as follows: –Statistics. –Studies. –Normative. –Employment Policies.

The Observatory spreads labor issues • Statistics Section: – Integrated access to main labor, economic and demographic indicators. – Methodological definitions. – Linkage with studies and another contents.

The Observatory spreads labor issues Employment Policies section: –Bank of interactive data of employment policies executed in MERCOSUR. –Classification of policies according to different criteria. –Homogenous presentation of data. Labor list of MERCOSUR: –Analysis of Labor legislation. –Comparison of effective norms in the Member States. –Access to the text of main laws.