El Salvador

El Salvador has made significant development progress in the past 30 years. The end of the civil war in 1992 marked the establishment of a liberal democracy and an open export-led development model, which led to a reduction in poverty and inequality. However, with economic growth averaging a modest 2.4% in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and productivity growth of 0.1% over the past decade, the post-war model has not generated the economic momentum or the jobs that the country needs. Decisive action is necessary to kickstart more robust, inclusive and sustainable development. Based on a multi-dimensional analysis of development in El Salvador, this report makes four priority recommendations: 1) build the conditions for a productive transformation and modernisation of the economy; 2) increase the quantity, quality and relevance of education; 3) manage water resources better to deliver water and sanitation for all in a sustainable manner; and 4) modernise the State so it can effectively deliver key public goods, from security to education to health, and successfully steer the next stage in the country’s development.

El Salvador ha consolidado importantes avances en su desarrollo en los últimos 30 años. El fin de la guerra civil en 1992 señaló el establecimiento de una democracia liberal y de un modelo de desarrollo abierto basado en la exportación, que contribuyó a reducir la pobreza y la desigualdad. Sin embargo, el modelo de la posguerra no ha generado el dinamismo económico o los puestos de trabajo que el país necesita. El crecimiento económico fue moderado en los años previos a la pandemia de COVID-19, promediando 2.4%, y la productividad creció al 0.1% durante la pasada década. Para impulsar un desarrollo más sólido, inclusivo y sostenible son necesarias acciones decisivas. Basándose en un análisis multidimensional del desarrollo en El Salvador este informe plantea cuatro recomendaciones prioritarias: 1) sentar las condiciones para la transformación productiva y la modernización de la economía; 2) aumentar la cantidad, calidad y pertinencia de la educación; 3) gestionar mejor los recursos hídricos para llevar agua y saneamiento a todos de manera sostenible; y 4) modernizar el Estado para que pueda generar bienes públicos clave – desde la seguridad ciudadana a la educación o la salud – de manera eficaz, y conducir el país hacia la próxima etapa de su desarrollo.

This report compiles comparable tax revenue statistics over the period 1990-2020 for 27 Latin American and Caribbean economies. Based on the OECD Revenue Statistics database, it applies the OECD methodology to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to enable comparison of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among the economies of the region and with other economies. This publication is jointly undertaken by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the OECD Development Centre, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

This publication contains the 2022 Second Round Peer Review Report on the Exchange of Information on Request of El Salvador. It refers to Phase 1 only (Legal and Regulatory Framework).

Using household data from 15 countries in Latin America and Africa, this paper explores linkages between informality and education-occupation matching. The paper applies a unified methodology to measuring education-occupation mismatches and informality, consistently with the international labour and statistical standards in this area. The results suggest that in the majority of low- and middle-income developing countries with available data, workers in informal jobs have higher odds of being undereducated as compared to workers in formal jobs. Workers in formal jobs, in contrast, have higher chances of being overeducated. These results are consistent for dependent as well as for independent workers. They also hold for men and for women according to the gender-disaggregated analysis. Moreover, in the majority of countries considered in this paper, the matching-informality nexus is also related to the extent of informality in a given area: in labour markets with higher informality, informal workers in particular have a higher chance of being undereducated. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings.

L'emploi informel, défini par l'absence de protection sociale basée sur l'emploi, constitue la majeure partie de l'emploi dans les pays en développement, et entraîne un niveau de vulnérabilité à la pauvreté et à d'autres risques qui sont supportés par tous ceux qui dépendent des revenus du travail informel. Les résultats de la base de données des Indicateurs clés de l’informalité en fonction des individus et leurs ménages (KIIbIH) montrent qu'un nombre disproportionné de travailleurs de l'économie informelle de la classe moyenne reçoivent des transferts de fonds. Ces résultats confirment que les stratégies de gestion des risques, telles que la migration, jouent un rôle dans la minimisation des risques potentiels du travail informel pour les ménages informels de la classe moyenne qui peuvent ne pas être éligibles à l'aide sociale. Ils suggèrent en outre que les travailleurs informels de classe moyenne peuvent avoir une demande solvable d'assurance sociale, de sorte que, si des régimes d'assurance sociale adaptés aux besoins des travailleurs informels leur étaient accessibles, les transferts de fonds pourraient potentiellement être canalisés pour financer l'extension de l'assurance sociale à l'économie informelle.

Informal employment, defined through the lack of employment-based social protection, constitutes the bulk of employment in developing countries, and entails a level of vulnerability to poverty and other risks that are borne by all who are dependent on informal work income. Results from the Key Indicators of Informality based on Individuals and their Households database (KIIbIH) show that a disproportionately large number of middle‑class informal economy workers receive remittances. Such results confirm that risk management strategies, such as migration, play a part in minimising the potential risks of informal work for middle‑class informal households who may not be eligible to social assistance. They further suggest that middle‑class informal workers may have a solvent demand for social insurance so that, if informality-robust social insurance schemes were made available to them, remittances could potentially be channelled to finance the extension of social insurance to the informal economy.

This report compiles comparable tax revenue statistics over the period 1990-2019 for 27 Latin American and Caribbean economies. Based on the OECD Revenue Statistics database, it applies the OECD methodology to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to enable comparison of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among the economies of the region and with other economies. This publication is jointly undertaken by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the OECD Development Centre, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The 2021 edition is produced with the support of the EU Regional Facility for Development in Transition for Latin America and the Caribbean, which results from joint work led by the European Union, the OECD and its Development Centre, and ECLAC.

A terceira edição do Panorama das Administrações Públicas: América Latina e Caribe contém as evidências disponíveis mais atualizadas sobre as administrações públicas e seu desempenho na ALC, comparando-as aos países da OCDE. Esta publicação inclui indicadores sobre finanças públicas e economia, emprego público, centros de governo, governança regulatória, dados abertos governamentais, integridade do setor público, aquisições públicas e, pela primeira vez, sobre os resultados centrais dos governos (p.ex., confiança nas instituições, redução da desigualdade). Os indicadores de governança são especialmente úteis para monitorar e comparar o desempenho dos governos nas suas reformas da administração pública. Cada indicador é apresentado em formato acessível para o leitor, e consiste em figuras ou quadros que ilustram as variações nos países e ao longo do tempo, análises descritivas breves, enfatizando os temas principais em cada área, e uma seção metodológica com a definição do indicador bem como qualquer limitação na comparabilidade dos dados.

This paper studies the potential drivers of governments’ approval rates in 18 Latin American countries using Internet search query data from Google Trends and traditional data sources. It employs monthly panel data between January 2006 and December 2015. The analysis tests several specifications including traditional explanatory variables of governments’ approval rates – i.e. inflation, unemployment rate, GDP growth, output gap – and subjective explanatory variables – e.g. perception of corruption and insecurity. For the latter, it uses Internet search query data to proxy citizens’ main social concerns, which are expected to drive governments’ approval rates. The results show that the perception of corruption and insecurity, and complaints about public services have a statistically significant association with governments’ approval rates. This paper also discusses the potential of Internet search query data as a tool for policy makers to understand better citizens’ perceptions, since it provides highly anonymous and high-frequency series in real-time.

Panorama de la Salud: Latinoamérica y el Caribe 2020 presenta indicadores clave sobre la salud y los sistemas de salud en 33 países de Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Esta primera edición del Panorama de la Salud sobre Latinoamérica y el Caribe fue preparada en conjunto por la OCDE y el Banco Mundial. Los análisis se basan en los datos comparables más recientes de alrededor de 100 indicadores sobre equidad, situación de salud, determinantes de la salud, recursos y actividades, gasto y financiación, y calidad en la atención de salud. El editorial discute los principales desafíos para la región en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID-19, incluyendo tanto el manejo de la epidemia como la movilización y el uso eficiente de recursos para asegurar una respuesta efectiva. El capítulo inicial, que resume el desempeño comparativo de los países antes de la crisis actual, está seguido por un capítulo especial sobre el malgasto en los sistemas de salud que redunda en acciones inefectivas o no mejora resultados, con el fin de redirigir esos recursos a otras áreas donde son altamente necesarios.

Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean 2020 presents key indicators on health and health systems in 33 Latin America and the Caribbean countries. This first Health at a Glance publication to cover the Latin America and the Caribbean region was prepared jointly by OECD and the World Bank. Analysis is based on the latest comparable data across almost 100 indicators including equity, health status, determinants of health, health care resources and utilisation, health expenditure and financing, and quality of care. The editorial discusses the main challenges for the region brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as managing the outbreak as well as mobilising adequate resources and using them efficiently to ensure an effective response to the epidemic. An initial chapter summarises the comparative performance of countries before the crisis, followed by a special chapter about addressing wasteful health spending that is either ineffective or does not lead to improvement in health outcomes so that to direct saved resources where they are urgently needed.

This report compiles comparable tax revenue statistics over the period 1990-2018 for 26 Latin American and Caribbean economies. Based on the OECD Revenue Statistics database, it applies the OECD methodology to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to enable comparison of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among the economies of the region and with other economies. This publication is jointly undertaken by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the OECD Development Centre, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The 2020 edition is produced with the support of the EU Regional Facility for Development in Transition for Latin America and the Caribbean, which results from joint work led by the European Union, the OECD and its Development Centre, and ECLAC.