The labor market in Latin America is exhibiting signs of weakness, according to weekly online job postings data. The number of active job ads in the 14 Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Guyana, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela) reached 410,132 in the week of May 22nd, down almost by almost a half from the one-year high reached in the second week of March 2023 (762,287 active job postings).

The weekly job postings data provides early signals on the labor market's performance, as traditional official data such as the unemployment rate is released with significant lag, usually one or even as late as two months after the reference period. Average unemployment in Latin America fell to 6% in March 2023 from 7.5% in January 2023, consistent with the increase in active job postings at that time. However, the decrease in active online job ads in April and May suggests that unemployment is expected to increase in May. Both new and removed job postings reached one-year lows in the second week of May. More importantly, the number of removed job postings consistently stays above the new ones since mid-March. This indicates that companies might have either paused hiring or the vacancies have not been filled yet, leading to an increase in job removals. Both scenarios will result in lower employment.

As of the second week of May 22nd, the majority of the job postings in Latin America are in the Information sector (102,470), followed by Manufacturing (66,050), and Administrative and support activities (61,784).