Arepas are not Tacos: On the Labor Markets of Latin America (Discussion Paper)

This paper examines labor markets across Latin American countries, revealing substantial differences in unemployment, informality, and worker transitions. Using surveys from eight countries, we construct comparable statistics on employment stocks and mobility patterns. Notable cross-country differences emerge, with economies mostly clustered into high unemployment-low informality or low unemployment-high informality groups. Transition probabilities and directional flows also vary significantly. We highlight the importance of using country-specific parameters when simulating labor market and aggregate outcomes. Finally, we compare our main results with those by sex and education groups.