Guatemala prepares to improve its labour market information, with support from IOM

In 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed a study on Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) in Guatemala. It identified areas for improvement in the collection of statistical information on labour migration and recommended strengthening this issue in order to design evidence-based labour migration policies.

To this end, on September 21, 2021, Guatemala held a virtual meeting with public officials and specialists in the field from Mexico and El Salvador. Participants had the opportunity to discuss best practices and analyze areas for improvement in their data record-keeping.

Among the speakers were representatives from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), the Migration Policy, Registration and Identity Unit of the Mexican Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of El Salvador.

From this exchange of experiences, the governmental institutions were able to learn how other countries in the region approach the subject and, particularly, how they manage their statistical information on migration and labour market issues.

"We are dedicated to conducting studies at the regional, departmental and even municipal level, so we are very interested in knowing what they have found, as well as the difficulties they had to implement this type of research," said Victor Busch, analyst of the Statistics Directorate of the Labour Market Observatory, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Guatemala.

Guatemalan institutions took the opportunity to request support for the construction of a National Labour Information System. This is a key issue for the country, within the framework of the Decent Employment Policy.

This activity was facilitated by IOM within the framework of the Western Hemisphere Program, financed by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.