Latin America must invest US$405 billion to avoid unemployment, says Celag.

Sputnik - According to a study by the Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics (CELAG), governments must act quickly to avoid a crisis "never before imagined".

Latin American countries must invest US$405 billion (approximately R$2.1 trillion) to avoid the loss of 271 million jobs. Jobs at risk due to the crisis. of COVID-19, according to research from CELAG.

"Defending 271 million Latin American workers in the midst of the crisis would mean an investment of 405 billion dollars, which implies 7,3% of each country's Gross Domestic Product [GDP], on average," says the study, conducted by Ecuadorian economist Nicolás Oliva.

The estimate was carried out by CELAG's Economic Analysis Unit, based on estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO) on labor income as a percentage of GDP in 20 Latin American countries, which include wages and mixed income associated with work.

"Put the State in place" as the employer of last resort"Paying salaries is not a cost, but an investment; when a crisis begins, acting immediately and decisively is not the same as doing so little by little, while the crisis deepens," the studio adds.

By acting gradually on the crisis, the gradual loss of productivity The impact on production, education, economies, and social conditions is "enormous," according to research by CELAG.

"When the economy collapses, it takes many more years to recover if we don't act immediately with the necessary funds; all these social and economic costs far exceed the supposed financial cost of 7% of GDP, which would mean sustaining the situation for three months to prevent the economy from sinking to levels never before imagined. The uncertainty about the size of the social collapse is so high that the risk increases exponentially when we act timidly and with deferment," the document warns.