(CC) IUCNweb/Flickr

Most companies in Latin America are founded and run by men. Nevertheless, the number of women entrepreneurs is on the rise across the region, according to the recent report “Mujeres emprendedoras en América Latina y el Caribe: realidades, obstáculos y desafíos” (Femail entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Realities, Obstacles and Challenges), published by Cepal. Even so, many of the new female business leaders face greater difficulties in accessing credit lines, as well as other challenges such as that of juggling their work with their family commitments and the lack of female leadership models.

The CEPAL study found that most female entrepreneurs were between 31 and 45 years of age. Furthermore, married women are represented more heavily among entrepreneurs (31%) than among employees in general (27%). Many of the new crop of female entrepreneurs have chosen to operate in the retail and services sectors, often in areas related to female identity such as health, beauty and education.

For more information, you can consult the full text (in Spanish) here.

stock. Xchng

The Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) has just published the “Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2009.” This annual publication is one of the leading sources of statistical information on the region and contains social, economic and environmental data.

The report is divided into four sections, which focus on:

-Demographic and social aspects, with a particular emphasis on gender.

-Economic statistics, such as prices, international trade, balance of payments and national accounts.

-The environment and natural resources.

-Methodological aspects related to the origin of the data, their definition and coverage.

According to data from the yearbook, the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean has grown by 4 percent over the last 60 years, while the region’s population has risen by an average of just over 2 percent a year.

The complete document can be downloaded in PDF format. The statistical graphs are in Excel.

(CC) lcrf/Flickr

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have released its second bulletin, “The Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Crisis in Labour Markets and Countercyclical Responses.” The ECLAC/ILO bulletin describes the impact of the crisis on labour markets, beginning with a brief review of urban employment and unemployment trends in the first and second quarters of 2009. A more detailed review of the main changes in the labour market in the first half of 2009, in relation to the first half of 2008, is also presented. The report’s final section highlights progress in the execution of public investment and emergency employment programs, as part of countercyclical policy packages. The review, which is more optimistic than previous forecasts, predicts an 8.5% unemployment rate in the region, still one percentage higher than in 2008.

The report is available on the web.