The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic stimulated a massive acceleration in digital adoption throughout the region.
In it’s latest report titled, “Universalizing access to digital technologies to address the consequences of COVID-19”, ECLAC noted that digital technologies have been essential to the functioning of the economy and society during the crisis caused by the coronavirus, (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Commission highlighted that communications networks and infrastructure are being used more and more intensely for productive, educational, health and entertainment-related activities and to keep in touch with friends and relatives.
The report stated: “Progress that was expected to take years to materialize has been made in a few months.”
However, the study also highlighted that the development and adoption of technological solutions are conditioned by particular structural factors, which include a heterogeneous production structure, a highly informal and precarious labour market, a vulnerable middle class, a weakened welfare state, poor digital infrastructure and socio-economic restrictions on access and connectivity.
ECLAC posited that the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have taken steps to encourage the use of new technologies and to ensure the continuity of telecommunications services but noted that the scope of these actions is “limited by gaps in access to and use of these technologies and by connection speeds.”
According to ECLAC, the access gap with regard to broadband connectivity deepens and worsens inequalities.
The Economic Commission reported that Connectivity, which is understood as the availability of a broadband service that is fast enough and the possession of Internet-ready devices, affects the right to health, education and work, while it can also increase socio-economic inequalities.
It underscored: “Connectivity is one of the conditions necessary for leveraging the value created by digital technologies.”
In 2019, ECLAC revealed that 66.7 per cent of the region’s inhabitants had an Internet connection. It noted that the remaining third has limited or no access to digital technologies owing to their economic and social status, particularly their age and area of residence.
The differences between urban and rural areas in terms of connectivity are also significant, said ECLAC, noting that in the region, 67 per cent of urban households are connected to the Internet, while only 23 per cent are connected in rural areas.
The study also revealed that in terms of age groups, young people and older persons are the least connected. It disclosed that 42 per cent of those younger than 25 years and 54 per cent of people older than 66 years of age are not connected to the Internet.
ECLAC stated that the least connected groups are children aged between 5 and 12 and adults over the age of 65, while the most connected are people between the ages of 21 and 25 and between the ages of 26 and 65.
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This is important, according to ECLAC because “low connection speeds reinforce exclusion as they prevent the use of digital teleworking and distance learning solutions.”
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, ECLAC highlighted that the demand for broadband communication services has skyrocketed. It asserted that the increase in online traffic has put a strain on network capacity and resilience, and several countries recorded a decrease in average network download speed during the first few months of lockdown. However, the commission said that available data suggests that this situation has been rectified.
Nevertheless, ECLAC indicated that as of June 2020, 44 per cent of the region’s countries were unable to provide the download speeds required to allow several online activities to take place simultaneously (connection speed was less than 25 Mbps).
The commission revealed that download speeds of around 18.5 Mbps allow two basic activities (the use of email) and one high-demand activity (playing videos or video-conferencing) to be carried out simultaneously. The report stated that this meant that users had to choose between distance learning and teleworking.
It added that when the download speed is less than 5.5 Mpbs, users can carry out only basic activities, which do not include teleworking or distance learning.
According to the report, teleworking has proved fundamental to the survival of some companies and for preventing the spread of the coronavirus. However, it noted that while 7.9 per cent of the world’s workforce worked from home on a permanent basis prior to the pandemic, mainly industrial outworkers and artisans, only a minority were teleworkers.
It posited that the proportion of work that can be done remotely varies among countries for structural reason, noting that labour market structures, production structures, levels of informality and the quality of digital infrastructure play a key role.
ECLAC uncovered that in Europe and the United States, almost 40 per cent of workers can work from home, compared to less than 15 per cent in some African countries. However, it estimated that in the case of Latin America and the Caribbean teleworking is feasible for roughly 21.3 per cent of employed persons.
Therefore the study acknowledged that digitization has played a fundamental role in allowing some productive activities to continue during lockdown, there is however concern that the inequality of labour markets in Latin America and the Caribbean will worsen.
The Commission explained that “in the absence of policies to support the most vulnerable workers against a backdrop of considerable inequalities in access to technological tools, significant heterogeneity in the capabilities of workers at various income levels and a productive structure concentrated on low-value-added activities, teleworking deepens inequalities.”
