Photo: Sonny Abesamis
Analysis of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in the Colombian labor market
Randy Sebastián Villalba Arango, Diana Guarnizo | November 23, 2022
El impuesto a las bebidas azucaradas ha sido una política de salud pública implementada para desincentivar los altos niveles de consumo de estas bebidas. Sin embargo, según la industria, esta medida promueve el despido masivo de trabajadores. ¿Eso es cierto?
The tax on sugar-sweetened beverages has been a public health policy implemented to discourage high levels of consumption of these beverages. However, according to the industry, this measure promotes massive layoffs of workers. The present publication, therefore, seeks to verify whether this statement is true or not.
The first part of this research shows what has happened in the countries that implemented the tax, showing that there were no job losses in the affected companies. Why? Because of the propensity of consumers to buy more of other beverages or products that are cheaper and belong to the same industry. This substitution effect is also present in Colombia.
The second part analyzes the particular characteristics of employment in Colombia, where it is identified that most of the positions are for temporary administrative and sales personnel, who would also not be affected given the ease of being transferred to the advertising strategies of non-taxed products. In general, the low percentage of jobs generated by these companies in relation to what they produce stands out. Their high productivity has allowed them to vary production without having to reconfigure their plant.
This document is another Dejusticia effort to contribute to the debate on the implementation of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Colombia from a rights-based and evidence-based perspective.
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