Evolución De Salarios Reales en Ecuador Durante La Gran Depresión, 1927-1937

Abstract

The monetary policies of the decade studied had a direct influence on the evolution of real wages in Ecuador. The gold standard brought with it the increase in real wages until 1932. In February 1932, the Ecuadorian Government decided to abolish the gold standard which, together with a heavy public expenditure, produced a significant increase in money supply causing high levels of inflation. The evolution of real wages in Ecuador is similar to the evolution registered in Latin America in two important aspects: in both cases an upward trend in real wages can be observed once the international crisis began; after the increase in the purchasing power of wages, there is a decline. This study is the first research trying to understand the impact of the Great Depression in Ecuador through the evolution of real wages.

LABOR CONTEXT IN ECUADOR IN THE 1930s: ACTIVE ECONOMIC POPULATION, LEGAL CONTEXT AND MINIMUM WAGES

“…Within this context, the article develops three themes: economically active population and purchasing power; legal context on working conditions; and, a brief review on the implementation of the minimum wage in Ecuador and some Latin American countries. (Naranjo, 2017).…”

“…Presidential decrees from 1928 mentioned pensions from 66 to 143 sucres monthly for a primary teacher, equivalent to the average received in the last five years. In the third group, constructed from the economically active population found in the public sector, workers in industries and merchants, the data from Naranjo (2017) showed that the lowest-paid employees and workers had, on average, an income of 91 sucres per month within 1920s. However, these wages had fallen sharply during the international crisis: the Great Depression reduced unskilled wages by about 25 sucres from 1929 to 1935.…”

Salarios Reales Y Subsistencia De Los Trabajadores De Mendoza Durante La Gran Expansión (Argentina, 1890–1914)

“…Por otra parte, el interés por ofrecer nuevas evidencias sobre los salarios, precios y canastas de consumo popular se imbrica con las tendencias de la historiografía económica internacional que han puesto en la agenda el poder de compra de los salarios de los trabajadores como indicador de bienestar material ( welfare ratio ) (Bértola, Camou y Porcile (1999); Williamson (1999, 2002); Allen (2001); Bértola (2005); Arroyo Abad (2013); Challú y Gómez Galvarriato (2015); Astorga (2017); Moraes y Thul (2017); Naranjo Navas (2017); Zamberlan Pereira (2019). Sólo en parte este tipo de enfoques han sido aplicados al caso argentino y mendocino, a pesar de valiosos antecedentes que pusieron el foco en las características del mercado laboral, o más bien de mercados “limitadamente conectados entre sí” (Míguez, 2018, p. 177) y las condiciones de vida de los trabajadores.…”