The meaning of labor transformations in Latin America

The article analyses the nature, magnitude and direction of the main transformations that are taking place in the Latin American labour markets. In the first place it reviews some conceptual perspectives, especially the theories on the exclusion and the vulnerability, since the current labour conditions are increasingly uncertain. On this base the issues analysed are: the high unemployment rates, the growing productive and working heterogeneity and their linking with the poverty rates, the persistence of low wages and the possible polarization of the different incomes levels, the working uncertainty and instability, the lack of social protection, the circumstances that affect unions and workers rights. As a conclusion, the analysis shows a growing degradation in the labour conditions in the region that demands an improvement in the scientific outlines and in the statistical information.