ECLAC Participates in International Initiative
on Trade and Employment

Photo: rsanchez.roberto1, Flickr

Through the publication of several studies and organization of regional events, ECLAC is actively participating in the International Collaborative Initiative on Trade and Employment (ICITE) together with nine other international organizations, under the coordination of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This project aims to expand the knowledge base on this issue at international level, create an inventory of data resources and promote dialogue among stakeholders, in particular, policymakers. An inter-organization steering group is leading the implementation of the project, which extends for two years (2011-2012).

Other organizations involved in ICITE include the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Labour Organization, the Organization of American States and the World Trade Organization.

One of the studies prepared by ECLAC experts as part of this initiative, "Effects of trade opening on household welfare: the Chilean case", shows that lower tariffs between 1999 and 2006 had a positive, though small, impact on poverty and income distribution in Chile. According to the authors José Durán, Alfonso Finot and Marcelo LaFleur, the results obtained in this study have implications for the design of policies that seek to promote more competitive market structures that could effectively transmit the benefits of trade liberalization to consumers.

The second document, "Productivity growth in Latin American manufacturing: what role for international trade intensities?", analyses the relationship between the intensity of trade flows and labour productivity for 28 industries in the five main economies in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. One of the conclusions drawn from this study, carried out by Sebastián Faúndez, Nanno Mulder and Nicole Carpentier, is that international trade flows significantly contributed, through various channels, to productivity growth between 1990 and 2008.

ECLAC experts together with ILO also compiled the document "Openness, Wage Gaps and Unions in Chile. A Micro Econometric Analysis" which shows that the wages of workers with the same characteristics (age, gender and level of education) are higher in sectors open to trade (exports and imports) than in closed sectors and that this "premium" results primarily from higher levels of labour unionization.

ECLAC also hosted the Second Regional Conference of ICITE in Santiago, Chile, on 14 and 15 June 2011. It was attended by policymakers, academics, officials from international organizations and representatives of the business sector.

The meeting, co-organized by OECD and World Bank under the auspices of the Government of Spain, aimed to promote dialogue and exchange of knowledge among different stakeholders, and inform of the key findings of the studies carried out as part of the project up until now. The event included a magisterial conference by Andrés Velasco, the former Minister of Finance of Chile, who stressed the uneven income distribution between homes in Latin America as the central issue of the debate on trade and employment. The participants focused the debate on the impact of external economic shocks on employment outcome in Latin American and Caribbean countries, among other issues of regional interest.

At present, the study of the interaction between trade, employment and development with equality in Latin America and the Caribbean is an ECLAC priority, among others.

This regional commission of the United Nations is currently producing a publication on trade and inclusive development, which follows on from the debate launched in the Organization's publication Time for equality: closing gaps, opening trails, presented during the last session of ECLAC in Brasilia in 2010.

Over the next months, the Organization will publish a case study on trade and employment in Brazil, and will continue to lead initiatives which help to produce information relevant to the development of public policies on trade and employment in the region.