COVID-19: The Increasing Gender Gap of Venezuela’s Migrant Population

The humanitarian, political, economic, and social crisis in Venezuela has caused more than 5.2 million citizens to flee the country. This phenomenon is the “greatest exodus of modern history in Latin America, and one of the biggest global crises on displaced populations”.[1] While the first migrants had a more homogenous profile of a highly qualified population in search of better job opportunities, since 2013 migrants represent all of Venezuela’s socioeconomic groups. [2]  There are more people making the journey by land, walking long distances, without legal documentation, with elders and unaccompanied children. Such a diverse group of people faces myriad challenges when entering a new country; the most salient is finding a job.

More than 80% of migrant and refugees go to countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The main destinations are Colombia (1.8 million), Peru, (860,000), Chile (455,000) and Ecuador (363,000), which host more than 65% of Venezuela’s migrant population. [3] These countries, traditionally countries of origin and transit of migrants, have become receptors in the face of the Venezuelan crisis. This unprecedented situation has challenged governments for the past decade, and COVID-19 has introduced additional difficulties since migrants have not benefited from government aid packages.

To better understand Venezuelan migrant work conditions pre and post COVID-19, economists A. Vasquez, M. Castro, and D. Licheri (Equilibrium – Development Center for Latin America), have examined the pandemic’s effects in three key aspects: (i) job tenure (formal or informal), (ii) unemployment due to the pandemic and, (iii) employment with a formal contract. Research mainly focused on the effects of the pandemic on gender inequality of migrant workers in Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, using the Regional Survey of Venezuelan Migrants, 2020 (Equilibrium CenDE).

The researchers found the dominant factors influencing labor conditions and job tenure, both pre and post pandemic, are gender and having children within the country to which they migrated. The presence of children increases the probability of having a job by 66 percent on average and increases the probability that they had not lost their job during quarantine by 61 percent. The authors go on to say: “Although in a normal context having children tends to reflect a negative correlation with having a job, particularly for women, results show that in times of crisis, obligation to support their family leads both parents to generate income by any means.”

Migrants in Colombia were the most affected by the pandemic, migrants in Chile the least affected, which can be explained due to individual measures taken by each government to mitigate pandemic effects. Having valid migrant documentation to legally work is associated with a higher probability of having a formal contract; without proper documentation the probability of a job contract decreases by 15% on average. Thus, workers with formal contracts were less likely to be adversely affected by the pandemic. A technical or bachelor’s degree doubles the probability of having a job contract; however, there is no effect of education on having job in general due to high levels of informal employment in the region.

Venezuelan migrant women, despite having higher average educational levels than their male peers, face a double disadvantage in the search for a job. [4] In all four countries of study, migrant women are informally employed in larger proportions than men. There is also a male-female salary gap, and women have higher levels of unemployment in periods of economic slowdown.

Given these already-precarious living conditions, the COVID-19 crisis and response disproportionately impacts the migrant population. Two of the study’s models showed that women’s probability of generating income before and after the pandemic is on average 50% lower than men. The majority of women work informally in sectors like services and small business, which are highly affected by the current context and have slower chances of recovery. During quarantine, increased domestic duties and family responsibilities due to school closure have excluded women from the workforce.

Venezuelan migration represents a challenge for the whole region. COVID-19 quarantines and halted economic activities have exacerbated pre-existing vulnerability of migrants, who have not benefited from government aid packages. This new research contributes to the debate on migration and gender issues, and offers input for policies that close gender gaps widened by the pandemic.

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[1] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, [UNHCR], 2020, p.10.

[2] Ávila, 2018; Freitez, Lauriño y Delgado, 2020.

[3] Coordination platform “Response for Venezuelans” or R4V, August 2020.

[4] IOM, 2019,2020; World Bank, 2020a; Equilibirum CenDE, 2020.