Labour Turnover and Women's Work

Despite the recent upsurge of interest in and research about Latin American labour movements, it is clear that considerable gaps exist in the empirical base. Indeed, Roxborough (1981) went so far as to state that 'At this stage, we are a long way from being able adequately to describe Latin American labour movements, let alone explain them' (ibid., p. 93, emphasis added). One specific gap already identified concerns patterns of job tenure and especially the question of labour turnover. Surprisingly, perhaps, evidence about this is still rather fragmentary for both Brazil and Argentina (ibid., p. 92), which are two of the more industrialized countries, each having a substantial working class. Pioneering research work by Humphrey (1977, 1982) has provided some detailed results for the Brazilian automobile industry, indicating high annual turnover rates during the 1970s (and specifically for the years 1977 and 1978), with evidence for similarly high rates in the Argentine industry being presented by Nun (1979). However, it cannot be assumed that the automobile industry is representative of all manufacturing, even though the transport equipment sector is one of the largest employers. As a minimum requirement, job tenure patterns in different branches of industry and other sectors of economic activity need to be examined

Demographic economics · Economics · Labour economics · Sociology · Work (physics · Engineering · Labor Movements and Unions · Mechanical Engineering

• Commercialization and corporate capital in the sorghum beer industry of Central Africa

  Open Access•C M Rogerson, B A Tucker•Geoforum•1985

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• The Analysis of Labour Movements in Latin America

  Ian Roxborough•Bulletin of Latin American Research•1981

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