Are the Unemployed Part of the Urban Poverty Problem in Latin America

Bibliographic Data

ID3224717
AuthorsJohn D Humphrey (0000-0002-8927-2322, University of Sussex, corresponding author), John Humphreys (0000-0002-8464-0886), John Humphrey (0000-0003-3156-1065)
Year1994
Volume26
Issue3
Pages713-736
Publication date1994-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022216x00008579
OpenAlexW2059543466
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited12

For a long period, the consensus in development studies argued that the unemployed in urban areas were not part of the poverty problem. It was argued in the 1970s that open unemployment in developing countries was not, in general, a serious social problem. This was not because rates of open unemployment were low in urban areas - Turnham cited open unemployment rates in urban areas of over ten per cent for countries as diverse as Ghana, Guyana, Panama, Puerto Rico, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Korea and the Philippines. Rather, it was argued that the unemployed were not poor. They were predominantly the relatively well-educated young, who were waiting to find good jobs, or migrants 'queuing' for work in the formal sector, or people temporarily out of work as they moved from one job to another. The urban informal sector or agriculture would provide jobs for those really needing work. Therefore, the 'needy' would not remain in open unemployment for long. Long periods of open unemployment would be luxury, available only to the better-off

Ceylon · Demographic economics · Developing country · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Informal sector · Labour economics · Latin Americans · Political science · Poverty · Unemployment · Urban poverty · Work (physics) · Youth unemployment · Latin American Urban Studies · Taxation and Compliance Studies · Urban and Rural Development Challenges