The impact of neoliberal economic reforms in Latin America: unemployment and poverty

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the acute reality produced and reproduced by the neoliberal economic policies in the 1990s in Latin America, from two of its most serious consequences: unemployment and poverty and its relationship with economic reforms. Unemployment is discussed through the changes in the labor market in the 1990s. And the poverty is observed by the intensity and extent of the phenomenon. The two categories, work and poverty, are examined from the theoretical and historical perspectives. In a second step it is verified, through the analysis of the regression model the causality between variables unemployment and poverty with reforms. The results confirm the relationship and show the influence of economic reforms in the rising unemployment and poverty in Latin America during the 1990 decade.