Crisis, employment and inequality in Latin America: a national and regional analysis between Mexico, Brazil and Ecuador

Abstract

The global economic crisis in 2008 impacts Latin America in a context in which a group of progressive governments had succeeded in managing the destiny of their countries. This paper analyses, at subnational level, the experiences of three countries, in the areas of employment and income inequality: Brazil and Ecuador, in which economic policies were reoriented towards a strong social approach, and which are compared with Mexico, a nation in which the Neo-liberal model was reinforced. The results enable to highlight that while inequality in wage income has been reduced in all those countries as a whole that has not been the case for specific regions of those nations.

La crisis económica en 2008 se presenta en América Latina en un contexto en el cual un grupo de gobiernos progresistas han logrado el manejo del destino de sus países. En este trabajo se analizan a nivel subnacional las experiencias de tres países en el área de empleo y desigualdad del ingreso; Brasil y el Ecuador en los cuales se reorientó la política económica dándole un contenido social y son comparados con México, nación en la cual se reforzó el modelo neoliberal. Los resultados permiten señalar que, si bien la desigualdad en el ingreso salarial se ha reducido, no es así para regiones específicas de dichas naciones.