During the presentation of SISCA’s regional report, Natalia Álvarez Rojas, a specialist with the lacommunis Association, warned that without regulatory frameworks governing information systems, it will not be possible to design effective public policies for migrant and returning workers.
On June 2, the Secretariat for Central American Social Integration (SISCA) presented the regional report “Labor Market Information Systems in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras: Progress, Gaps, and Their Contribution to Labor Migration Management” during the webinar series “Data That Connects Opportunities.”
The study was developed as part of the PERSPECTIVAS project, which was supported by Swisscontact and funded by the German Development Bank KfW.
In light of the report’s findings—which reveal partial technical progress but weak institutional frameworks in the labor market information systems (SIMEL) of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—Álvarez Rojas, who participated in the report’s design as a labor migration specialist with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), focused her remarks on two key questions linking data, labor rights, and social protection.
Regulatory frameworks and labor protection: what is at stake?
When asked about the implications of legally formalizing SIMELs in terms of migrants’ rights, the expert noted that countries in the region already have an international, inter-American, and national regulatory framework that defines obligations regarding social protection.
“Social protection is about ensuring that all people, as human beings, have a guaranteed minimum level of healthcare and income, but above all, protection when we face situations such as illness, unemployment, injury, pregnancy, etc.,” she explained.
However, she cautioned that this clashes with a structural reality: Central American labor markets are characterized by high levels of informality and a low capacity to generate decent work. In this context, well-regulated SIMELs can play a fundamental role.
“If we have the capacity to systematically organize all this metadata, we will be able to develop more specific policies to address these issues. It is particularly valuable to have this information, which enables us to move toward public policies that guarantee labor protection for people,” he noted.
Álvarez Rojas added that these information systems not only serve to guide national labor inspections but also to inform binational or multilateral agreements—such as those in the Central American region—and to identify patterns of circular mobility that can be formalized through agreements between states.
“The regulatory frameworks governing SIMELs present a significant opportunity to incorporate social protection measures, identify trends, and develop policies to address violations of regulations and labor conditions,” she emphasized.
Artificial Intelligence and Bias: A Necessary Warning
The specialist also addressed the ethical challenge posed by artificial intelligence applied to these systems, citing the recent papal encyclical on ethical considerations.
“It will be very important to generate the appropriate information so that these systems can feed artificial intelligence regarding migration, integration, return, etc. The role of this official information—including administrative data, civil society data, as well as quantitative and qualitative data—can help us reduce bias,” she stated.
Evidence-Based Return Policies
Regarding how SIMEL data can support the design of labor migration policies that include safer and more orderly return processes, Álvarez Rojas emphasized the need to raise awareness about migrant workers, returnees, and those in circular migration flows.
“It is key to have a very clear understanding of the aspects of our labor market: where the supply is, where the demand is, what specific mechanisms we will need to properly profile individuals, what the needs are—or the geographic areas or industries where we have specific demand—and how we link that need with workers,” he explained.
She also underscored the importance of profiling and skills certification to break the cycles of informality and underemployment that particularly affect the returnee population.
“With the right information, it is possible to promote formal employment that benefits all of society: migrant workers, returnees, and their families,” she said.
Finally, he noted that understanding the profiles, the geographic areas with the highest demand, and the required skills allows for the development of policies to ensure safe, orderly, and evidence-based conditions, “including the possibility of close monitoring regarding compliance with decent work standards.”
The Report
The study presented today concludes that, between 2019 and 2025, the region’s SIMELs have made progress in technical capacity and regional coordination, but face critical shortcomings in governance, sustainable financing, and regulatory frameworks that would ensure their continued existence beyond the scope of cooperation projects.
Natalia Álvarez Rojas’s remarks highlighted the most urgent aspect of these gaps: without institutionalized information systems, the social protection and labor rights of migrants could be compromised.