A study conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has concluded that jobs in education and health are good quality jobs, especially for women since their remuneration has grown significantly in recent years and they are more likely to provide a pension in old age.
The study titled Educa-tion and Health: The sectors of the future is the second issue of the IDB’s The future of work in Latin America and the Caribbean series. As part of its findings it notes that Latin America and the Caribbean will need approximately 12 million teachers, three million doctors and eight million nurses by the year 2040.
In Guyana the study projects that the demand for social sector professionals will also rise with the demand expected to be 18,000 teachers, 1,000 doctors and 3,000 nurses by the year 2040.
“Our study shows that, even in the framework of the fourth industrial revolution, we can expect the number of teachers, doctors and nurses in Latin America and the Caribbean to continue growing at great speed,” Marcelo Cabrol, manager of the IDB Social Sector explained.
He went on to note that the methodology used to conduct the study shows that a third of the teachers that will be needed in 15 years, and almost two thirds of the doctors and nurses, are people who have not yet begun their working life.
“Faced with this reality, the key is to ensure that these new professionals have the skills and training they need to be the teachers, doctors and nurses of the future,” Cabrol maintained explaining that the study’s projections are based on a series of variables specific to each sectors.
In the case of education, the school-age population, school enrollment rates and the number of children per teacher are considered while for the health sector, the number of doctors is estimated with respect to the aging population that will exist in the coming decades, as well as the proportion of nurses for each doctor.
Further analysis of the evolution of the employment of teachers, doctors and nurses in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last four decades has shown that these three occupations have not only been growing significantly in the region, but that they are in comparison with other sectors, of good quality, Cabrol further claimed.
The publication presents evidence that the income of teachers, doctors and nurses in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown significantly in recent years and noted that these professionals are more likely to receive a pension in old age when compared to other professionals such as engineers, lawyers, journalists or accountants.
Specifically it noted that the labour income of teachers was, on average, 33% lower than that in other professions in the year 2000; but in 2015, the wage gap shrunk to only 13%. Similarly, in the year 2000, nurses’ labour income was, on average, 31% lower than that in other professions, and in 2015 it was equal on average while doctors, whose labor income had always been higher than other professions, saw the relative gap grow by 66% between 2000 and 2015.
Further women represent the majority of social sector workers where the gender wage gap is substantially lower than in others.
“While, in our region, women with post-secondary education still earn on average 28% less than men, in education and health this difference is around 10%,” Cabrol related.
