ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to explore labour market tensions and inefficiencies that may have exacerbated poverty are usually inferred from prototypical rational and cost-accounting models that ignore socio-political, demographic, and cultural realities. It incorporates these factors on the supply and bargaining power of coffee labourers in Colombia and lemon harvesters in Argentina and also considers the impact of legislation and political alliances on wages. Rural poverty among landless labourers continues to be one of the major unresolved problems throughout Latin America. This is the case even in areas where highly productive agricultural industries are able to compete in demanding export markets. In contrast, the Argentine case study is based on interviews of labourers, producers and contractors between 1999 and 2001 in a local rural labour market and a local rural-urban labour market. The chapter speculate about employment opportunities as the interlinking of rural and urban labour markets progresses.
