Abstract
A year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis in the labour market underscored the significant decent work deficits that Latin America and the Caribbean had already been experiencing. The crisis has caused a major, unprecedented exodus from the labour force, lessening the expected impact on the unemployment rate. The outlook is even more concerning given that the negative effects have been unequal, and that the path to recovery is accompanied by a widening of employment and income gaps, where informal jobs are driving the recovery of employment. In this context, policies to recover production must coincide with those that stimulate employment demand, which are decisive for moving toward a human-centred recovery. The new waves of contagion observed in the first quarter of 2021 and the new measures to contain them complicate the labour and social outlook in the region given that the economic recovery could take longer than expected.