Resumo Introdução: o Equador realizou recentemente seu primeiro inquérito sobre condições de trabalho. Objetivo: descrever as condições de trabalho e emprego e o estado de saúde dos trabalhadores equatorianos em uma amostra que permita comparação com inquéritos latino-americanos anteriores. Métodos: uma amostra de 1.713 trabalhadores foi selecionada do primeiro inquérito sobre condições de trabalho no Equador. Prevalências e intervalos de confiança de 95% (IC95%) foram calculados e comparados com inquéritos anteriores na Colômbia, Argentina, Chile, América Central e Uruguai. Resultados: homens foram frequentemente mais expostos a trabalho em condições perigosas, sendo as mais relatadas trabalho com ruído (81% dos homens e 69% das mulheres) e com movimentos repetitivos (56% dos homens e 48% das mulheres). Cerca de 31% dos homens e 19% das mulheres trabalhavam mais de 40 horas por semana. Quase 11% das mulheres e dos homens relataram uma autopercepção de saúde ruim. A prevalência de agravos ocupacionais foi a mais alta da região: 15% para homens e 8,4% para mulheres. Conclusão: este é um primeiro levantamento das condições de trabalho e emprego e do estado de saúde de trabalhadores no Equador. Harmonizar e aperfeiçoar os Inquéritos sobre Condições de Trabalho na América Latina deve ser uma meta prioritária para melhorar a vigilância em saúde do trabalhador na região.

Background: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the world’s most inequitable region in terms of wealth distribution. The full scale of social inequalities in health has been hidden by the lack of reliable data. This study aimed to measure and compare health inequalities in the working population within and between 15 countries of LAC. Methods: A sample of 180,163 workers aged 18 years and older was drawn from the most recent national surveys of working conditions or health in 15 LAC countries. Poor self-perceived health (P-SPH) was used as a health indicator, and age, education level, and occupational category as inequality stratifiers. We calculated four measures: absolute and relative population-attributable risks, the Kuznets and weighted Keppel indexes. Results: P-SPH prevalence ranged from 9% in men from Uruguay to 50% in women from Nicaragua. It was higher in women than in men in most countries. A clear gradient was shown, in which young people in non-manual skilled jobs and high education had the lowest prevalence. Nearly 45% of cases that reported P-SPH among men and 35% among women could be avoided if all the groups received a higher level of education. Also, approximately 42% of P-SPH reported by men and 31% by women could be avoided if they all shared the working and employment conditions of non-manual skilled jobs. Conclusions: Wide health inequalities were found between occupational and educational groups in LAC. However, country borders appear to be an even more important stratifier in the production of health inequalities. Urgent interventions to improve worker’s health are needed in countries where prevalence of poor self-perceived health is high. Strengthening occupational health surveillance system in LAC countries should become a priority, in order to track the interventions to reduce occupational health inequity.

Background: More than half of the working population in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries is engaged in informal employment. The few previous studies indicate that this employment condition could have negative consequences for workers’ health. The aim of the present study was to estimate the association between self-perceived health and informality in LAC countries according to gender and welfare state type. Methods: The cross-sectional study based on different working conditions and health national surveys was carried out in 13 LAC countries between 2012 and 2018. A sample of 176,786 workers was selected from these surveys. The association between health and informality was estimated using Poisson regression. Finally, a random effects meta-analysis was carried out by country. All results were stratified by sex and type of welfare state (statalist or familialist). Results: Informal workers reported significantly worse health than formal workers, for both women (1.28 [95% CI 1.14-1.43]) and men (1.30 [1.12-1.50]). This difference was broader and more significant in countries with statalist welfare state regimes, among both women (1.40 [1.22-1.60]) and men (1.51 [1.30-1.74]), than in familialist regime countries (1.19 [1.03-1.38] and 1.24 [1.03-1.49], respectively). Conclusions: This study provides strong evidence of the association between informal employment and worker health. Welfare states appear to have a modifying effect on this association. The transition from the informal to the formal labour market in LAC is essential to improving the health of the population.

Resumo Introdução: o teletrabalho no domicílio, uma das medidas adotadas para controlar a pandemia de COVID-19 e, ao mesmo tempo, manter o emprego, tem aumentado em vários países. Objetivo: refletir sobre o significado, a magnitude e as tendências do teletrabalho no domicílio, antes e durante a pandemia, enfatizando seus potenciais efeitos na saúde do trabalhador. Discussão: a precedente Convenção 177/1996 da Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT) sobre trabalho a domicílio e o acordo sobre teletrabalho entre agentes sociais na União Europeia, em 2002, apontam a dificuldade de regulamentar essa nova forma de organização do trabalho e da prevenção de possíveis lesões e doenças associadas, especialmente transtornos mentais e distúrbios musculoesqueléticos. São necessários estudos sobre os efeitos na saude dessa modalidade de trabalho para fornecer evidências científicas que embasarão normas em nível nacional e global. A inclusão de questões específicas e bem definidas, como as que a OIT propõe, em futuros levantamentos sobre as condições de trabalho, emprego e saúde poderá auxiliar tal objetivo e proporcionar uma oportunidade para observar os efeitos do teletrabalho no domicílio na saúde do trabalhador, bem como avaliar o impacto de uma necessária e urgente regulamentação.

Objetivo. Estimar el impacto de la pandemia de la COVID-19 durante el año 2020, a través del exceso de mortalidad por todas las causas y los años potenciales de vida laboral perdidos en la población en edad de trabajar, de una selección de países latinoamericanos y el Caribe. Métodos. Estudio basado en datos de defunciones por todas las causas entre 15 y 69 años, procedentes principalmente de los Institutos Nacionales de Estadísticas. Se estimaron defunciones esperadas a partir de las registradas entre 2015 y 2019. El exceso de mortalidad fue estimado a través del indicador P, la razón de mortalidad estandarizada (RME) y los años potenciales de vida laboral perdidos (AVLP) hasta los 70 años. Resultados. El exceso de defunciones en Brasil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, México, Perú y República Dominicana sumó 426 978 (279 591 en hombres y 147 438 en mujeres), lo que representó una pérdida de 5 710 048 (3 738 775 en hombres y 1 971 273 en mujeres) de APVLP. La mortalidad observada fue significativamente superior a la esperada en todos los países, menos República Dominicana. Conclusiones. El impacto de la COVID-19 en la población en edad de trabajar tendrá un impacto profundo en la situación socioeconómica. El recuento oportuno del exceso de muertes resulta útil y puede ser usado como un sistema de alerta temprana para monitorizar la magnitud de los brotes de COVID-19. La monitorización del exceso de mortalidad en personas en edad de trabajar, realizada por el Observatorio Iberoamericano de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo permite evaluar con mayor exactitud la carga social y económica de la COVID-19.

Peru has one of the highest informal employment rates in Latin America (73%). Previous studies have shown a higher prevalence of poor self-perceived health (P-SPH) in informal than in formal workers. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of working conditions in the association between informality and SPH in an urban working population in Peru. We conducted a cross-sectional study based on 3098 workers participating in the working conditions survey of Peru 2017. The prevalence of P-SPH and exposure to poor working conditions were calculated separately for formal and informal employment and were stratified by sex. Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between P-SPH and informal employment, with crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) for working conditions. Informal employment affected 76% of women and 66% of men. Informal workers reported higher exposition to poor working conditions than formal workers and reported worse SPH. Informal workers had a higher risk of P-SPH than formal workers: PR 1.38 [95% CI: 1.16–1.64] in women and PR 1.27 [95% CI: 1.08–1.49] in men. Adjustment by working conditions weakened the association in both sexes. In women, this association was only partially explained by worse working conditions; PR 1.23 [95% CI: 1.04–1.46]. Although some of the negative effect of informal employment on workers´ health can be explained by the characteristics of informality per se, such as poverty, a substantial part of this effect can be explained by poor working conditions.