Trabaja Peru (Lurawi Peru)

Defining principles

Direct employment is the most effective way to address unemployment, underemployment, extreme poverty, and the social costs of unemployment.

Rationale

Provide employment to help lift people out of poverty, reduce violence in urban areas, promote skill development, and respond immediately to natural disasters in rural areas.

Number of participants

In 2022, more than 239,000 temporary jobs for more than 265,000 participants in 4,600 projects (1).

Criteria for participation

Impoverished citizens over 18 years old or affected by natural disasters and emergencies.

Pay and benefits

70% of the minimum wage (2).

Financing

PEN 481M in financial transfers in 2022 (3).

Implementation

Overseen by the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE) with the cooperation of regional and local authorities. There are three modalities of implementation: 1. Project Competition: Local and regional governments compete for funding to co-finance labor-intensive infrastructure projects. 2. Non-Competitive Projects: Temporary employment generation in areas suffering from natural disasters and other emergencies. Financing is completely covered by the federal government. Regional and local governments propose projects that generate employment. 3. Immediate Intervention Activities: Allocation of resources to stimulate temporary employment in response to natural disasters and other emergencies. (4)

Types of work

Basic, social, and economic infrastructure projects.

Notable features

64% of participants are women. 27% of participants were young people (18-29) and almost 6% were seniors (60-64). 43% of participants are classified as poor and an additional 42% are extremely poor. 4% of participants have no formal education, 18% did not complete primary school, 22% with a primary school education, 17% did not complete secondary school, and 35% completed secondary school. 3% of participants are disabled, 2% are survivors of gender violence, and an additional 2% are survivors of Peruvian internal conflicts (5).

Challenges

There has been a precipitous drop in program enrollment between 2022-2023 and delays in projects due to problems with an unresponsive national director and understaffing of program managers (6)(7).

Visit program website