To have low unemployment is something most countries would be proud of and not moan about. However, in Uruguay unemployment is at an all-time low of 6.1% and is causing concern among economists, human resource companies and businesses, reports the BBC.
Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and Peru’s Alan Garcia agreed on Wednesday to downplay Lima’s suit against Santiago over maritime boundaries in favor of economic integration to combat poverty and underdevelopment. They instead outlined that bilateral relations are going through the best ever time, in term of relations.
Brazilian and Uruguayan Foreign Ministers Antonio Patriota and Luis Almagro have agreed to hold bilateral meetings every three months they announced during a press conference in Uruguay. The ministers met to discuss the forthcoming meeting between Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff, scheduled for the first week of February.
The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the number of unemployed in the UK has increased by 49,000 to 2.5 million, with a record number of young people out of work.
Brazil’s Central Bank has increased its key interest rate to 11.25% in the hope of halting inflation. The rate has gone up from 10.75% and is the first under the Government of President Vilma Rousseff, who came in to office earlier this month.
Economic activity in Argentina increased 8.2% during 2010 and in December grew 9.3% compared to the previous year, a private report says.
The Chilean airline Lan announced that it has agreed with the Brazilian airline TAM the terms for the merge of the two airlines, which will take place in the next six to nine months
Argentine farmers threatened to go on strike for a second time this year if the government does not change their policy towards them. At a meeting in Buenos Aires province city, Bahia Blanca, farm workers leaders met to discuss the week-long strike, which began last Monday. Farmers have stopped the sale of wheat, corn and soybean over export curbs.
Latin America and the Caribbean experienced rapid employment recovery in 2010 to pre-crisis levels, but the challenge of improving the working conditions of millions of workers still remains, according to data provided by the ILO, which will hold its 17th American Regional Meeting in Chile next week with delegates from 35 countries of the continent.
Figures in Brazil show that 2.52 million new jobs were created last year, the Brazilian Labour Ministry reported.