if vulnerability is defined as monthly income between and times the poverty line then a very high percentage of the latin american population over in many countries lives in poverty or vulnerability see figure these individuals have limited capacity to ride out growth and employment cycles since the majority do not have savings or access to social security and do not own their homes they also exhibit high dependency rates and low levels of education which impairs their ability to progress in the job market and get ahead during times of economic expansion while heightening the risk that they will sink back into poverty when the economic cycle takes a turn for the worse accordingly with growth forecast to slow in the years ahead the fact that such a large portion of the population lives in vulnerable conditions should be cause for concern