The informal employment rate in Ecuador rose in September 2023, closing at 54.4%. Unemployment stood at 3.7%, according to INEC.
A worker in the informal sector, in the north center of Quito. Reference photo, September 2022.
Of the total number of people with employment in Ecuador, 54.4% were in the informal sector of the economy by September 2023, according to figures published this October 24 by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).
Compared to a year ago, the informal employment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points. This indicator has remained on the rise so far this year.
In fact, if compared to September 2021, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, informal employment was below, with a rate of 49.2%.
Adequate employment is maintained.
Adequate employment in September stood at 35.5%, just 0.1 percentage points higher than in the same month of 2022, according to the National Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment Survey (Enemdu).
People with adequate employment earn at least the basic salary, of USD 450, and work a full eight-hour day. But, this does not mean that they work in the formal sector of the economy.
Nearly 3.1 million people have full or adequate employment, of which 83% have a formal job and 15% are in the informal sector.
Meanwhile, unemployment stood at 3.7% in September, which represents a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to the same month of the previous year.
Underemployment closed at 20.2%, with a variation of only 0.1 percentage points compared to September 2022, when it was at 20.3%.
