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Chapter
![levels which normally oscillated between 80,000 and 100,000 per year, and which in 1975 had soared up to 118,000 workers, were sharply reduced to 40,000 thereafter [First, 1982]. This mainly affected the southern part of Mozambique by creating massive rural unemployment. The towns had no capacity to absorb this surplus labour since employment was drastically re-duced in the towns as well. The latter process was due to the fall in employ-ment in domestic work (servants) and in the tourist sector (restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.). The exodus of Portuguese settlers and the virtual standstill of tourism (which catered for South Africans and Rhodesians) had amplified the problem of structural employment in the towns. The rural unemployed could not merely fall back on family agriculture since this was heavily dependent on cash income from wage work. Oxen and ploughs, farm implements, water reserves, etc. were normally paid for with wages from mine labour or other wage work. Furthermore, due to this cash inflow from wage income, a more interactive type of division of labour developed within the rural areas of southern Mozambique. Hence, peasants without oxen and plough would rent the services of peasants who did, and pay for it out of wage income. Brick-makers, carpenters, house-builders, tailors, mechanics were to be found among the middle peasantry who relied on these activities (usually acquired through mine labour) to supplement their income from farming. In a similar fashion, local transport and petty com-merce were sidelines of middle peasants stabilised by the influx of wage income. The reduction in mine labour employment deeply affected the viability of this internal division of labour within the rural economy. Finally, the impact of the reduction in mine labour was not evenly spread among the peasantry, since only those who held valid work certificates from the recruitment agency could continue to go to the mines. Other peasants were cut off altogether. This introduced a sharp element of differentiation within the rural econonmy. Those who could continued to go to the mines not only had cash income but also a guaranteed access to commodities (including means of production), while within Mozambique shortages were rapidly turning into a goods famine. However, rural unemployment was not merely a phenomena of the south. In central Mozambique, wage work to Rhodesia dropped sharply with the closure of the border between Mozambique and Rhodesia since 1976, and as a result of the war situation which developed thereafter. As stated in above, the concentration of resources on the state sector further weakened the basis of family agriculture at a time when a considerable part of its cash income through wage labour was cut off. While the colonial situ-ation was characterised by persistent labour shortages within the rural economy and continued state intervention to keep labour cheap (through the imposition of forced labour and forced cultivation of crops as well as by fragmentation of labour markets to avoid competition for labour to drive up the wage levels), the post-independence situation became characterised by rural unemployment and an intensified flow of people from the rural areas to the towns in search of wage work. The priority accorded to investments led to the slow expansion in the supply of consumer goods and in 1981 it actually fell by eight per cent: six per cent](https://images.tandf.co.uk/common/jackets/crclarge/978020304/9780203043493.jpg "levels which normally oscillated between 80,000 and 100,000 per year, and which in 1975 had soared up to 118,000 workers, were sharply reduced to 40,000 thereafter [First, 1982]. This mainly affected the southern part of Mozambique by creating massive rural unemployment. The towns had no capacity to absorb this surplus labour since employment was drastically re-duced in the towns as well. The latter process was due to the fall in employ-ment in domestic work (servants) and in the tourist sector (restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.). The exodus of Portuguese settlers and the virtual standstill of tourism (which catered for South Africans and Rhodesians) had amplified the problem of structural employment in the towns. The rural unemployed could not merely fall back on family agriculture since this was heavily dependent on cash income from wage work. Oxen and ploughs, farm implements, water reserves, etc. were normally paid for with wages from mine labour or other wage work. Furthermore, due to this cash inflow from wage income, a more interactive type of division of labour developed within the rural areas of southern Mozambique. Hence, peasants without oxen and plough would rent the services of peasants who did, and pay for it out of wage income. Brick-makers, carpenters, house-builders, tailors, mechanics were to be found among the middle peasantry who relied on these activities (usually acquired through mine labour) to supplement their income from farming. In a similar fashion, local transport and petty com-merce were sidelines of middle peasants stabilised by the influx of wage income. The reduction in mine labour employment deeply affected the viability of this internal division of labour within the rural economy. Finally, the impact of the reduction in mine labour was not evenly spread among the peasantry, since only those who held valid work certificates from the recruitment agency could continue to go to the mines. Other peasants were cut off altogether. This introduced a sharp element of differentiation within the rural econonmy. Those who could continued to go to the mines not only had cash income but also a guaranteed access to commodities (including means of production), while within Mozambique shortages were rapidly turning into a goods famine. However, rural unemployment was not merely a phenomena of the south. In central Mozambique, wage work to Rhodesia dropped sharply with the closure of the border between Mozambique and Rhodesia since 1976, and as a result of the war situation which developed thereafter. As stated in above, the concentration of resources on the state sector further weakened the basis of family agriculture at a time when a considerable part of its cash income through wage labour was cut off. While the colonial situ-ation was characterised by persistent labour shortages within the rural economy and continued state intervention to keep labour cheap (through the imposition of forced labour and forced cultivation of crops as well as by fragmentation of labour markets to avoid competition for labour to drive up the wage levels), the post-independence situation became characterised by rural unemployment and an intensified flow of people from the rural areas to the towns in search of wage work. The priority accorded to investments led to the slow expansion in the supply of consumer goods and in 1981 it actually fell by eight per cent: six per cent")
Chapter
levels which normally oscillated between 80,000 and 100,000 per year, and which in 1975 had soared up to 118,000 workers, were sharply reduced to 40,000 thereafter [First, 1982]. This mainly affected the southern part of Mozambique by creating massive rural unemployment. The towns had no capacity to absorb this surplus labour since employment was drastically re-duced in the towns as well. The latter process was due to the fall in employ-ment in domestic work (servants) and in the tourist sector (restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.). The exodus of Portuguese settlers and the virtual standstill of tourism (which catered for South Africans and Rhodesians) had amplified the problem of structural employment in the towns. The rural unemployed could not merely fall back on family agriculture since this was heavily dependent on cash income from wage work. Oxen and ploughs, farm implements, water reserves, etc. were normally paid for with wages from mine labour or other wage work. Furthermore, due to this cash inflow from wage income, a more interactive type of division of labour developed within the rural areas of southern Mozambique. Hence, peasants without oxen and plough would rent the services of peasants who did, and pay for it out of wage income. Brick-makers, carpenters, house-builders, tailors, mechanics were to be found among the middle peasantry who relied on these activities (usually acquired through mine labour) to supplement their income from farming. In a similar fashion, local transport and petty com-merce were sidelines of middle peasants stabilised by the influx of wage income. The reduction in mine labour employment deeply affected the viability of this internal division of labour within the rural economy. Finally, the impact of the reduction in mine labour was not evenly spread among the peasantry, since only those who held valid work certificates from the recruitment agency could continue to go to the mines. Other peasants were cut off altogether. This introduced a sharp element of differentiation within the rural econonmy. Those who could continued to go to the mines not only had cash income but also a guaranteed access to commodities (including means of production), while within Mozambique shortages were rapidly turning into a goods famine. However, rural unemployment was not merely a phenomena of the south. In central Mozambique, wage work to Rhodesia dropped sharply with the closure of the border between Mozambique and Rhodesia since 1976, and as a result of the war situation which developed thereafter. As stated in above, the concentration of resources on the state sector further weakened the basis of family agriculture at a time when a considerable part of its cash income through wage labour was cut off. While the colonial situ-ation was characterised by persistent labour shortages within the rural economy and continued state intervention to keep labour cheap (through the imposition of forced labour and forced cultivation of crops as well as by fragmentation of labour markets to avoid competition for labour to drive up the wage levels), the post-independence situation became characterised by rural unemployment and an intensified flow of people from the rural areas to the towns in search of wage work. The priority accorded to investments led to the slow expansion in the supply of consumer goods and in 1981 it actually fell by eight per cent: six per cent
DOI link for levels which normally oscillated between 80,000 and 100,000 per year, and which in 1975 had soared up to 118,000 workers, were sharply reduced to 40,000 thereafter [First, 1982]. This mainly affected the southern part of Mozambique by creating massive rural unemployment. The towns had no capacity to absorb this surplus labour since employment was drastically re-duced in the towns as well. The latter process was due to the fall in employ-ment in domestic work (servants) and in the tourist sector (restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.). The exodus of Portuguese settlers and the virtual standstill of tourism (which catered for South Africans and Rhodesians) had amplified the problem of structural employment in the towns. The rural unemployed could not merely fall back on family agriculture since this was heavily dependent on cash income from wage work. Oxen and ploughs, farm implements, water reserves, etc. were normally paid for with wages from mine labour or other wage work. Furthermore, due to this cash inflow from wage income, a more interactive type of division of labour developed within the rural areas of southern Mozambique. Hence, peasants without oxen and plough would rent the services of peasants who did, and pay for it out of wage income. Brick-makers, carpenters, house-builders, tailors, mechanics were to be found among the middle peasantry who relied on these activities (usually acquired through mine labour) to supplement their income from farming. In a similar fashion, local transport and petty com-merce were sidelines of middle peasants stabilised by the influx of wage income. The reduction in mine labour employment deeply affected the viability of this internal division of labour within the rural economy. Finally, the impact of the reduction in mine labour was not evenly spread among the peasantry, since only those who held valid work certificates from the recruitment agency could continue to go to the mines. Other peasants were cut off altogether. This introduced a sharp element of differentiation within the rural econonmy. Those who could continued to go to the mines not only had cash income but also a guaranteed access to commodities (including means of production), while within Mozambique shortages were rapidly turning into a goods famine. However, rural unemployment was not merely a phenomena of the south. In central Mozambique, wage work to Rhodesia dropped sharply with the closure of the border between Mozambique and Rhodesia since 1976, and as a result of the war situation which developed thereafter. As stated in above, the concentration of resources on the state sector further weakened the basis of family agriculture at a time when a considerable part of its cash income through wage labour was cut off. While the colonial situ-ation was characterised by persistent labour shortages within the rural economy and continued state intervention to keep labour cheap (through the imposition of forced labour and forced cultivation of crops as well as by fragmentation of labour markets to avoid competition for labour to drive up the wage levels), the post-independence situation became characterised by rural unemployment and an intensified flow of people from the rural areas to the towns in search of wage work. The priority accorded to investments led to the slow expansion in the supply of consumer goods and in 1981 it actually fell by eight per cent: six per cent
levels which normally oscillated between 80,000 and 100,000 per year, and which in 1975 had soared up to 118,000 workers, were sharply reduced to 40,000 thereafter [First, 1982]. This mainly affected the southern part of Mozambique by creating massive rural unemployment. The towns had no capacity to absorb this surplus labour since employment was drastically re-duced in the towns as well. The latter process was due to the fall in employ-ment in domestic work (servants) and in the tourist sector (restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.). The exodus of Portuguese settlers and the virtual standstill of tourism (which catered for South Africans and Rhodesians) had amplified the problem of structural employment in the towns. The rural unemployed could not merely fall back on family agriculture since this was heavily dependent on cash income from wage work. Oxen and ploughs, farm implements, water reserves, etc. were normally paid for with wages from mine labour or other wage work. Furthermore, due to this cash inflow from wage income, a more interactive type of division of labour developed within the rural areas of southern Mozambique. Hence, peasants without oxen and plough would rent the services of peasants who did, and pay for it out of wage income. Brick-makers, carpenters, house-builders, tailors, mechanics were to be found among the middle peasantry who relied on these activities (usually acquired through mine labour) to supplement their income from farming. In a similar fashion, local transport and petty com-merce were sidelines of middle peasants stabilised by the influx of wage income. The reduction in mine labour employment deeply affected the viability of this internal division of labour within the rural economy. Finally, the impact of the reduction in mine labour was not evenly spread among the peasantry, since only those who held valid work certificates from the recruitment agency could continue to go to the mines. Other peasants were cut off altogether. This introduced a sharp element of differentiation within the rural econonmy. Those who could continued to go to the mines not only had cash income but also a guaranteed access to commodities (including means of production), while within Mozambique shortages were rapidly turning into a goods famine. However, rural unemployment was not merely a phenomena of the south. In central Mozambique, wage work to Rhodesia dropped sharply with the closure of the border between Mozambique and Rhodesia since 1976, and as a result of the war situation which developed thereafter. As stated in above, the concentration of resources on the state sector further weakened the basis of family agriculture at a time when a considerable part of its cash income through wage labour was cut off. While the colonial situ-ation was characterised by persistent labour shortages within the rural economy and continued state intervention to keep labour cheap (through the imposition of forced labour and forced cultivation of crops as well as by fragmentation of labour markets to avoid competition for labour to drive up the wage levels), the post-independence situation became characterised by rural unemployment and an intensified flow of people from the rural areas to the towns in search of wage work. The priority accorded to investments led to the slow expansion in the supply of consumer goods and in 1981 it actually fell by eight per cent: six per cent
ABSTRACT
From 1982 onwards, the economic situation took a turn for the worse, the major factors accounting for this being the escalation of the silent war of aggression by South Africa against Mozambique and the drought. By 1983 the economy itself encountered an acute crisis situation: sharp falls in production, mounting debts and massive destruction caused by the war [Wuyts, 1984a].
