Home Business . Then he lost his job and failed as a cabdriver. Latin America is steadily emerging from the economic crisis of the mid-1990s, but unemployment remains high. In Colombia, where President Clinton visited this week, the jobless rate is officially 20 percent and is worsening the country's decades-old civil conflict by providing new recruits for rival paramilitaries.
Combatants face mortal dangers but at least get daily meals.
Colombian President Andres Pastrana said he would urge Clinton to drop trade barriers to create alternative jobs for the thousands of Colombians who work in the drug trade. Latin America closed 1999 with an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, the highest in 20 years and up from 8.1 percent the year before, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America, a U.N. agency. That's double the U.S. rate, and although it is roughly equivalent to the average in the 15-nation European Union, Latin America doesn't have Europe's generous social security systems. Experts say the rise in joblessness stems mainly from the financial crisis in Asia, which reduced imports from Latin America and froze Asian investment in the region. But another factor is the painful adjustment dictated by a battle against inflation and fiscal deficits, especially in Ecuador and Argentina.