This situation jeopardizes the financial health of thousands of people and exacerbates inequity, both in Mexico and in Latin America. Above all, when scenarios as unexpected as the current health emergency arise, in which millions of jobs have been lost and thousands of people live with the uncertainty about whether they will continue to have a job.
However, precisely these times of pandemic have shown that digital tools are an effective solution to reduce labor informality in Latin America and the Caribbean. And while there is still a gap between new technology and vulnerable workers, technology platforms are leveling the playing field in that regard.
In Mexico there are several startups focused on providing informal workers access to certain affordable and reasonable benefits that they can usually only receive from full-time employment. The company eweights For example, it gives workers immediate access to their payroll at no charge to business owners.
Other startup Mexican company that stands out for offering solutions to independent workers is the company Heru . This app provides packages of software to delivery drivers, helping to provide insurance, credit and tax preparation services.
At the end of 2020, they finalized a seed round for 1.2 million dollars to support informal workers more broadly in Latin America, and it is expected that by the end of this year it will reach 20,000 active users.
For the freelancers platforms have also emerged and startups who work to provide them with greater security and access to new jobs. Workana it’s a marketplace for temporary hires that has more than 3.2 million independent workers registered on its platform, a number that has increased during the pandemic because, according to the figures of said company, the activity freelance it grew 42% in Latin America during the health contingency.