The International Labour Organization has reported an unusual pattern in the urban unemployment rate in Latin America countries and the Caribbean during 2014.

According to the Panorama Laboral de América Latina y el Caribe 2014, the urban unemployment rate in 2015 for the region may go as high as 6.3 percent, a reading that forecasts the real possibility that there might be an estimated 500,000 more people in the affected areas with no jobs.

Elizabeth Tinoco, the regional director of the ILO, introduced the report in Mexico City by saying, "There are warning signs."

According to UN News Centre, Tinoco said, “[The] concern is that we are creating fewer jobs despite unemployment remaining at a low level.”

Despite the fact that unemployment has not risen because of this slowdown in growth, there has been a noticeable reduction of new jobs reflected in the employment rate, which fell by 0.4 percentage points to 55.7 percent in the third quarter of 2014.

According to Tinoco, this indicates that at least 1 million fewer jobs have been created.

As the ILO report informs, the urban unemployment rate of young people has dropped from 14.5 percent to 14 percent, although it remains between two and four times higher than the unemployment rate for adults.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate for women is 30 percent greater than the rate for men.

Tinoco said, “Many people who temporarily left the workforce in 2014 will return to search for a job next year, together with young people entering the labour market. The region will have to create nearly 50 million jobs over the coming decade, just to offset demographic growth.

“So we have to face the huge challenge,” Tinoco said, “of rethinking strategies to push growth and a productive transformation of the economy to foster economic and social inclusion through the labour market.”

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