Unemployment was the main concern of Ecuadorians at the start of Guillermo Lasso’s government

Ecuadorians hope that new president creates sources of employmentThey consider it to be the main problem of the country. The CEDATOS and CIIES pollsters agree on their results. Vaccination and containment of the pandemic is the third problem in the country, according to public perception. According to data from the Ecuadorian Institute of Statistics and Census, more than 465,000 people are unemployed in the country.

“Jobs, jobs and more jobs” was one of the slogans that accompanied Lasso during the campaign for the first electoral round in Ecuador. The government plan includes pledges for 2021, including increasing the base salary to $ 500. Currently, the base salary in Ecuador is $ 400.

The very day of his care, May 24, Guillermo Lasso announced that the labor reform project he will present to Congress is ready. However, he has not commented on when he will send the bill to the Legislature.

Lasso appointed his presidential advisor in the spotlight, Aparicio Caicedo, to “polish” the plan: “The first draft of the project is ready Aparicio, we have to start with fine-tuning the details and deliver the project to Ecuadorian civil society which we will then send to the National Assembly. “

The president described the bill as “modern Yes bold“However, he was categorical, specifying that the Labor Code will not be amended and that the rights acquired by workers will be respected: “Many will want to accuse us of wanting to make work precarious. No, those who have already made the situation precarious by leaving aside the great majority of Ecuadorian women and young people were those who came before us ”.

Among Lasso’s offers in terms of employment and the promotion of entrepreneurs is the improve market access for Ecuador’s main trading partners and the world’s largest economies through trade and investment agreements. In his inaugural address, Lasso said that “Ecuador declares that it opens its doors to world trade”. According to the page of the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries 11 trade agreements are in force.

The worst unemployment figures of the last decade

Lasso receives Ecuador with the worst unemployment indicators of the last decade. According to data from the National Survey of Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment 2021 from the Ecuadorian Institute of Statistics and Census, in March 2021, the unemployment rate of the economically active population is 5.5%.

In Ecuador, 92 out of 100 jobs were created by private companies. Where Lasso offers eliminate paperwork that hamper productive development, simplify legal requirements for setting up, operating and closing businesses and fostering competitive businesses with new lines of credit.

During the campaign, Lasso said that 98% of businesses that exist in Ecuador are micro and small businesses, and that taxes hamper the growth of these small businesses.

The Doing Business 2020 index positions Ecuador in the position 129 of 190 countries and qualifies it as a country complicated to undertake, in particular because of the procedures that entrepreneurs must follow to open a new business. The Doing Business report states that in Ecuador there are around 11 types of procedures that an entrepreneur must complete and states that the approval time to open a new business can take up to around 50 days.

Read on: