PEOPLE'S SENSE OF VULNERABILITY GROWING IN LATIN AMERICA

Most people in Latin America have a growing sense of being threatened, vulnerable and at risk, as shown by public opinion surveys in the late 1990s. This is the conclusion of a study recently published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
A main cause is the increased precariousness of the job market, with more temporary jobs offering insecure income, no contract and no social security. Other causes include the pullback of the State from some areas, changes in traditional social organization such as unions, and the difficulties facing small companies. The effects are felt by most of the region's people, including not only the poor, but also part of the middle classes. This, in turn, translates into constant movement in and out of poverty, with additional social costs.
According to the study, employment instability rose during the past decade, as did the number of people working in informal or low productivity sectors. In 1999, this reached nearly 50 per cent of the work force in urban zones, more in rural areas. Jobs lost due to restructuring of production devalued human capital, pushing many experienced workers into low productivity sectors or unemployment. "Government policies for their training and relocation do not seem to have had the expected success," the document states.
At the same time, the purchasing power of pensions and other social allowances went down, adding to the shaky conditions faced by the main recipients in the lowest income social groups. In several countries, public policies have refocused social spending so that many middle and lower middle class households now pay directly all or part of service costs, while also facing the job crisis and falling incomes.
The weakening of unions and community groups and young people's exclusion from political parties has led people to more individualistic behaviour and isolation in the job market and a decline in worker's benefits, social security and living conditions, the study found. Public policy relies heavily on small and very small companies to relieve this vulnerability and poverty, but inadequate subsidies and development policies underline the companies fragility and end up "reproducing poverty," the report states.
Groups affected by "hard poverty" suffer the most social vulnerability, but in the past two decades, nonindigenous poor and middle class sectors have also seen sharp income fluctuations. As households cross the poverty threshold over and over again, they experience mounting debt, insecurity and decline in living conditions. For the urban poor, it is hard to gain access to the better job quality and salaries in the modern part of the economy which depend on ever-higher educational levels. Both education and health care also show a clear differentiation according to social strata, making it difficult to overcome poverty.
To reduce poverty and social vulnerability, ECLAC recommends that social policies revert to the inclusion of some groups in low and middle income strata, which are currently excluded by excessive focusing and are very vulnerable to economic recessions. At the same time, economic policy must achieve more dynamic, stable growth, as well as a substantial rise in the productivity of micro and small companies, whose permanent nature has become evident.
The study is available in English (Social Panorama of Latin America, 1999-2000) and Spanish (Panorama Social de America Latina, 1999-2000) on the ECLAC website, or in a printed version from Document Distribution Unit, ECLAC, Casilla 179-D, Santiago, Chile, fax (56-2) 206-0252, e-mail: publications@eclac.cl .

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