ABSTRACT
This chapter examines more closely the workings of the urban economies of underdeveloped countries. Occupations are the usual way of assigning people to different social strata and it is the labour market that regulates the number and type of occupations. State intervention has been a powerful influence in shaping labour markets in Latin America. In underdeveloped countries, the intervention of the state in the economy has been marked in the period of capital-intensive industrialization. The state influences labour markets in Latin America directly as an employer and indirectly through an extensive regulation of conditions of work. The increase in non-military public employment is particularly significant in the non-manual strata in all countries of the region. State employment in Latin America has meant relatively secure jobs and a range of benefits such as health insurance, pension plans and loans for housing. State employees are amongst the first to receive these benefits, followed by workers in key industries of the private sector.
