3. Balance and perspectives of social inclusion for building more equitable societies
- Introduction
- Social inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean: a look at recent history
- Life cycle and key dimensions of social inclusion
- Policies for the first decades of life
- Policies for adult life
- Policies for the elderly
- Cross-cutting social policy challenges
- References chapter 3
Key messages
- In LAC, 30 % of the population lives in poverty, and the region stands out as one of the most unequal in terms of income and wealth, especially in rural areas and among indigenous and Afro-descendant populations.
- A fundamental pillar of inclusion policies must be the guarantee of equal opportunities. However, in the region, numerous persistent barriers hinder equality, contributing significantly to socioeconomic gaps in various dimensions of well-being. For this reason, ex post redistributive policies continue to play a crucial role.
- A comprehensive set of public policies is required to overcome the structural barriers to social inclusion, ensuring key opportunities for disadvantaged groups to develop human capital, access quality jobs, strengthen their capacity to save and acquire essential assets, and have income, health and care protection in old age.
- Early childhood represents a critical stage of intervention to close the marked gaps in human capital. Successful policies in the region, such as conditional income transfers and the expansion of maternal and child health services, have demonstrated their effectiveness; however, there is still a long way to go to expand and improve the quality of early childhood education.
- The quality and relevance of basic education is a pending debt that has not accompanied the notable expansion in educational coverage. Disadvantaged groups also face significant financial barriers to accessing higher levels of education, which offer salary returns more than double those of people who reach lower levels.
- Access to quality jobs and the accumulation of essential assets are fundamental for inclusion during adulthood. However, structural barriers such as labor informality and limited social protection, the limited access to credit, specific challenges faced by ethnic minorities and women, and regional inequalities generate deep inclusion gaps.
- Policies aimed at reducing gaps in access to economic opportunities must Operate on multiple fronts: equalizing productive potential by strengthening human capital at the labor stage, promoting equal treatment in the labor market for people with similar skills, regardless of gender or ethnicity, improving labor decision-making by disadvantaged groups through adequate access to information, and strengthening financial inclusion.
- Labor informality excludes many individuals from contributory pension systems. Non-contributory pensions have been expanded to ensure a minimum income in old age, but their coverage and adequacy are still major challenges in several countries.
- The aging of the population and the lack of formal care services overburden families, especially women. It is crucial to develop care policies for the elderly, which so far have been nonexistent in the region.
- Inclusion policies face cross-cutting challenges such as the need to effectively target beneficiaries, guarantee technical and institutional capacities for efficient implementation, ensure sustainable financing to maintain these policies in the long term, improve redistributive capacity, and avoid distortions that undermine incentives for productivity and economic growth.