Second Latin American meeting of bodies responsible for the supervision, control and regulation of land transport

This edition of the Bulletin presents a summary of topics examined and discussed during the Second Latin American Meeting of Bodies Responsible for the Supervision, Control and Regulation of Land Transport, held at ECLAC Headquarters, Santiago, Chile, from 10 to 12 August 1999. The rapporteur of the meeting was Mr. Humberto Valdés Ríos, Sub-Director, Asociación de Investigación y Producción del Transporte, Cuba.

Towards a new paradigm for urban public transport: the transmilenio case

The process of urbanization in Latin America presents new challenges for urban transport systems insofar as one of the priorities is to provide proper mobility for the increasing and complex interaction of communities.This edition of the Bulletin, prepared by Irma Chaparro, presents a summary of the recent study entitled Evaluación del impacto socio-económico del transporte urbano en la ciudad de Bogotá. El caso del sistema masivo de transporte, Transmilenio, LC/L 1786-P, October 2002, which considers the socioeconomic impact of the Transmilenio system in Bogotá. This system is part of an integrated transport strategy promoted by the District Authority over the period 1998-2001 and is an avant-garde solution to the difficult problem of transport in the city.

What is BRT? Rolling out the Metrobús in Buenos Aires, Argentina

This issue of the FAL bulletin describes the Metrobús line which recently started operating in Buenos Aires and provides a preliminary analysis of its performance.

II Cumbre Hemisférica de Transportes

La Segunda Cumbre Hemisférica de Transportes se celebró en Santiago de Chile, del 10 al 12 de abril de 1996. Participaron los ministros responsables del transporte de varios países de las Américas para respaldar los compromisos asumidos en la Cumbre de la Américas de 1994. El objetivo principal de la reunión ministerial fue explorar soluciones conjuntas a la problemática de transporte en la región y sentar las bases de una cooperación más dinámica y eficaz.

Infraestructuras bajas en carbono

Incluye bibliografía.

The economic infrastructure gap and investment in Latin America

This edition of the FAL Bulletin aims to present and encourage the use of the economic infrastructure investment database for Latin America and the Caribbean (EII-LAC-DB), built by the Infrastructure Services Unit of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The information contained refers to the period 1980-2012, in keeping with measurements undertaken by the World Bank, ECLAC and under the cooperation agreement between ECLAC and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Advances and challenges in measuring decent work

At 6.4%, the unemployment rate for the Latin American and Caribbean region overall was the lowest for the past few decades, down from 6.7% in 2011. This is significant, in view of the difficult employment situation prevailing in other world regions. Labour market indicators improved despite modest growth of just 3.0% in the region’s economy. Even with sharply rising labour market participation, the number of urban unemployed fell by around 400,000, on the back of relatively strong job creation. Nevertheless, around 15 million are still jobless in the region. Other highlights of 2012 labour market performance were that the gender gaps in labour market participation, unemployment and employment narrowed, albeit slightly; formal employment increased; the hourly underemployment rate declined; and average wages rose. This rendering was obviously not homogenous across the region. Labour market indicators worsened again in the Caribbean countries, for example, reflecting the sluggish performance of their economies. The sustainability of recent labour market progress is also a cause for concern. Most of the new jobs in the region were created as part of a self-perpetuating cycle in which new jobs and higher real wages (and greater access to credit) have boosted household purchasing power and so pushed up domestic demand. Much of this demand is for non-tradable goods and services (and imports), which has stimulated expansion of the tertiary sector and hence its demand for labour, and many of the new jobs have therefore arisen in these sectors of the economy. This dynamic certainly has positive implications in terms of labour and distribution, but the concern is whether it is sustainable in a context of still relatively low investment (even after some recent gains) which is, moreover, not structured in a manner conducive to diversifying production. Doubt hangs over the future growth of production capacity in the region, given the enormous challenges facing the region in terms of innovation, education quality, infrastructure and productivity. As vigorous job creation has driven progress in reducing unemployment, attention has turned once again to the characteristics of that employment. Awareness exists in the region that economic growth is essential, but not in itself sufficient to generate more and better jobs. For some time, ILO has been drawing attention to the fact that it is not enough to create any sort of employment. The concept of decent work, as proposed by ILO, emphasized the need for quality jobs which enshrine respect for fundamental rights at work. The United Nations General Assembly endorsed this notion and incorporated it into the targets set in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals. This eighth issue of the ECLAC/ILO publication “The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean” examines how the concept of decent work has evolved in the region, progress in measuring it and the challenges involved in building a system of decent work indicators, 14 years after the concept was first proposed. Although the concept of decent work has been accompanied since the outset by the challenge of measurement, its first objective was to generate a discussion on the best achievable labour practices in each country. Accordingly, rather than defining a universal threshold of what could be considered decent work —regarding which developed countries might have almost reached the target before starting, while poor countries could be left hopelessly behind— ILO called upon the countries to define their own criteria and measurements for promoting decent work policies. As a result, there is no shared set of variables for measuring decent work applicable to all countries. The suggestion is, instead, that countries move forward with measuring decent work on the basis of their own priorities, using the information they have available now and in the future. However, this strategy of progressing according to the data available in each country tends to complicate statistical comparison between them. So, once the countries have developed their respective systems of decent work indicators, it will be also be important to work towards harmonizing them. ECLAC and ILO are available to provide technical support to this end. With respect to 2013, there is cautious optimism regarding the performance of the region’s labour markets. If projections of a slight uptick —to 3.5%— in the region’s economic growth in 2013 are borne out, labour indicators should continue to gradually improve. This will bring new increases in real wages and a slight drop of up to 0.2 percentage points in the region’s unemployment rate, reflecting a fresh rise in the regional employment rate and slower growth in labour market participation.

Revista de la CEPAL no.67

Primer Mundo y Tercer Mundo después de la Guerra Fría / Eric Hobsbawm. -- Las dimensiones urbanas en el desarrollo rural / Alexander Schejtman. -- Capacitación en pequeñas empresas en América Latina / Guillermo Labarca. -- Reforma neoliberal y política macroeconómica en el Perú / Oscar Dancourt. -- Impacto de la inversión pública sobre la inversión privada en Brasil: 1947-1990 / Bruno de Oliveira Cruz y Joanílio R. Teixeira. -- Chile y su política comercial “lateral” / Sebastián Sáez y Juan Gabriel Valdés S. -- La reestructuración en la industria: los casos de Chile, México y Venezuela / Carla Macario. -- Industrialización a base de confecciones en la Cuenca del Caribe: ¿un tejido raído? / Michael Mortimore. -- Industria maquiladora y cambio técnico / Rudolf M. Buitelaar, Ramón Padilla y Ruth Urrutia. -- Políticas de ciencia y tecnología y el Sistema Nacional de Innovación en la Argentina / Daniel Chudnovsky. -- Las concesiones y la optimización del transporte vial y ferroviario / Ian Thomson.

Eficiencia energética y movilidad en América Latina y el Caribe: Una hoja de ruta para la sostenibilidad

Incluye bibliografía.

Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation Survey 2015

The Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation 2014-2015 is a global effort led by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in collaboration with the other four United Nations Regional Commissions, namely, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The goal of the Global Survey is to gather information from the member states of the respective Regional Commissions on trade facilitation and paperless trade measures and strategies implemented at the national and regional levels. The results of the survey will enable countries and development partners to better understand and monitor progress on trade facilitation, support evidence-based public policies, share best practices and identify capacity building and technical assistance needs.

Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Employment in microenterprises between 2003 and 2013. Improvements and challenges

The Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean is a twice-yearly report prepared jointly by the Economic Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Office for the Southern Cone of Latin America of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Network for Cooperation in Integrated Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean No. 24

Editorial remarks.-- Open discussion: Integrating economics, legislation and administration in water and water services management ; Water and Free Trade Agreements ; Provision of transport infraestructure.-- News of the network: WALIR ; Prevention and reduction of the Danger Posed by natural disasters ; Ministry of Water in Bolivia ; Water management council of the Paute Basin in Ecuador ; CRSS.-- Internet and WWW news

Políticas de logística y movilidad para el desarrollo sostenible y la integración regional

El presente documento propone un cambio de paradigma para la formulación de políticas nacionales de logística y movilidad, con pautas comunes para los países de América Latina y el Caribe. Dicho cambio permitirá fortalecer el desarrollo y la integración productiva mediante la generación de cadenas de valor que profundicen los mercados nacionales y regionales, una mejor inserción en la economía global, la generación de una conectividad eficiente entre los eslabones de la cadena así como también la articulación de proyectos regionales en ciencia, tecnología e innovación para consolidar un cambio estructural con igualdad.

¿Estudias o trabajas? El largo camino hacia la independencia económica de los jóvenes de América Latina

Este estudio es un aporte al diagnóstico de la transición de la escuela al trabajo entre jóvenes de 15 a 29 años, con una descripción actualizada y detallada de indicadores laborales por género para 18 países de la región.