Download Economic Integration, Labor Market and International Migration: the

Economic Integration, Labor Market and
International Migration: the Mercosur Case1
Neide Patarra2
1. Mercosur Context: Similarities and
Disparities
The Mercosur Trade Agreement of 1991
affects a group of nations in the Latin
American Southern Cone (Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile and
Bolivia entering later). They are all
geographically contiguous and have similar
historical and cultural dimensions. At the
same time, they are enormously diverse in
their social and economic aspects.
All are heirs to a colonial past of
European origin (Portugal, in the case of
Brazil, and Spain, in the case of the others),
and gained their political independence in
the 19th century. Their internal territorial
divisions, cultural traits, processes of
urbanization, economic cycles, relations with
colonial metropolitan centers, processes of
independence, relations with their native
populations, and the presence of African
slaves (especially in the case of Brazil), have
forged similarities and diversities among
them which, in the 20th century, merged into
a general trend toward the industrialization
of formerly colonial societies.
The most evident discrepancy is the
size of the geographic units in these
countries. The Portuguese colonial policy
created a geographically and linguistically
consolidated territory, which is now Brazil,
comprising 8,511,000 km² and a current
population of approximately 170,000,000.
In the case of Spanish colonization,
1
2
territorial dismemberment eventually created
very small countries, such as Paraguay, with
only 407,000 km² and a present-day a
population 4.5 million. Uruguay has only
177,000 km² and a current population of about
3.1 million. Argentina, a country with a larger
land area (2,767,000 km²), a more advanced
and diversified level of industrialization, and
a precocious urbanization process inherited
strong European characteristics, and today
has a population of approximately 32 million
(Table 1).
These countries have grown and been
consolidated by means of intense
international immigration flows, which have
given them clear cultural peculiarities. From
colonial times until the first half of the 20th
century, Latin America absorbed enormous
numbers of foreign migrants who, due to
factors which forced them from their
homelands or otherwise attracted them to
new lands, came with the aim of permanently
settling, becoming part of a new social
context, and participating in the construction
of new countries (Pellegrino, 1995).
There were great flows of foreign
migrants to Latin America during the 18th
century, most of whom were from colonizing
countries. In addition, great numbers of
African were brought to the Americas as
slaves, especially in slavocratic Brazil, a fact
that created strong cultural peculiarities,
especially in some areas of the country.
In the 19th century, the socio-political
crisis in Europe and the emancipation
Previous version of this paper was presented at the XXIII General Population Conference. Beijing. 1997.
Visiting Professor. National School of Statistical Sciences (ENCE)/IBGE.
Patara, N.
Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
movements in Latin America brought about
further migratory flows to the region.
Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile, which
absorbed great numbers of Italian migrants,
especially toward the end of the century,
were the main destination of this flow. This
process contributed considerably to the
cultural, social and economic configuration
of the Southern Cone countries (except
Paraguay).
The last great group of European
immigrants to Latin America came just after
World War II, especially to Argentina, Brazil
and Venezuela (Lattes & Lattes, 1996). By
the 1970s, immigration had become less
attractive, and the socioeconomic gap
between these Latin-American countries
and the more developed nations increased.
In addition, economic crises, social unrest
and the adoption of dictatorial regimes in a
number of Latin American countries, in
alliance with the economic and social
development of the so-called first-world
nations, brought about another migratory
movement. This time however, Latin
Americans were leaving their homelands
(Villa, 1996).
Efforts at industrialization in Southern
Cone countries have had peculiarities and
faced obstacles that complemented the
historical diversity of their social formation.
Paraguay still has a basically traditional
agrarian-based economy. Uruguay, with its
early urbanization and high educational
levels shows an incipient industrialization
process that, together with its political
problems, favors a high level of emigration,
especially of young people. Argentina and
Brazil have showed a more structured
process of industrialization, although with
numerous difficulties and serious social
inequalities.
All the countries involved in the recent
economic integration process face the need
to find their place in the correlations of
international forces in the context of
globalization. At the same time, they undergo
internal pressure toward the restructuring
of the production system, with internal and
external indebtedness, the downsizing of the
state apparatus, and local specificities,
including the deterioration of the living
conditions of large sectors of the population,
as will be seen below.
The economic indicators presented
below reflect some of these disparities: most
of the region’s total GP of 1994 (US$413.1
billion, or 61%), of approximately US$680
billion, came from Brazil, followed by
Argentina, with US$255 billion, Paraguay,
TABLE 1
Basic Indicators
Source: Relatório Anual Banco Mundial (1994) and Boletim do Subgrupo do Trabalho n. 10, do Mercosul.
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Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
with US$6.8 billion, and Uruguay with
US$ 11.4 billion. It should be noted that
per-capita annual income varied between
a maximum of US$ 7,712, in Argentina,
and a minimum of US$ 1,511, in Paraguay
(Table 1).
Other social indicators confirm
disparities among Mercosur countries:
Paraguay’s urbanization level was 42% in
1982, contrasted with Uruguay’s 88.7%
(Table 2); infant mortality rates in the early
1990s ranged from 124.2 per thousand in
Paraguay to 20.6 per thousand in Uruguay
(Table 3). Life expectancy rates for the
populations of those same countries also
differ (Table 4), including significant
differences by sex and by educational levels.
Indicators show that Brazil has gone through
the most intense industrialization process
(Table 5). Poverty and indigence levels
(Table 6) underscore the very low social
indicators in Brazil, with figures that, in both
cases, fall considerably below those of the
three other Mercosur countries.
In the early 1990s the total population
in the four countries was nearly 190 million.
Population estimates for 2000 indicated a
total population of about 220 million, 80% in
Brazil. Tables 7 and 8, below, show long-
term evolution in these countries and their
respective percentage distribution by age
group (Table 8). Table 9 shows figures from
the middle of the 20th century, with
projections for the first two decades of the
21st, which enable us to establish future
alternative socioeconomic scenarios.
Population growth in the Southern Cone
Countries, as everywhere else in Latin
America, has slowed down significantly in
recent decades. From the early 1960s to the
late 1980s, total fertility fell from 6 to 3.4
children per woman, and life expectancy
grew a mean of ten years, from 57 to 67.
After having reached a maximum of 3%,
present growth rates are now approximately
1.7% (Celade, 1993). Starting at very
different levels in 1950, the projections
showed that the Mercosur countries tend to
converge toward considerably lower levels,
notwithstanding the relatively higher level
in Paraguay.
In order more clearly to discuss the
reciprocal influence between the Economic
Integration Treaty and the labor market, it is
important to note the effects of the related
changes on the age structure of the
respective populations during the time
series considered here. Age pyramids in
TABLE 2
Urbanization level
Source: Fundação IBGE, Censo Demográfico de 1991 (Brazil); United Nations. Demographic Yearbook, 1991 & 1992 (Argentina,
Paraguay and Uruguay).
TABLE 3
Total Fertility Rate and Infant Mortality Rate
Source: United Nations. Demographic Yearbook, 1994
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Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
TABLE 4
Life expectancy at Birth
Source: Brasil - Fundação IBGE, Censo Demográfico de 1991 (Brazil); United Nations. Demographic Yearbook, 1991 & 1992, 1994.
TABLE 5
Educational Indicators
Source: CEPAL, 1994.
* School enrolment per population, according to the age corresponding to schooling level (%).
TABLE 6
Poverty and Indigence Indicators
Source: CEPAL, 1994.
168
Patarra, N.
those countries (Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4)
provide a quick view of the implications of
such changes. The graphs show the effects
of different processes of demographic
transition in each country. Argentina and
Uruguay underwent a rapid transition
process which began in the early 20th
century. Brazil and Paraguay are in similar
phases of the process, and are thus
Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
considered moderate transition countries
(intermediary fertility and mortality),
although the recent decline in fertility was
greater in Brazil.
Changes in the age structure of the
population have important implications in
terms of the labor market as well as in terms
of the configuration of different social policy
demand profiles. In the four countries
TABLE 7
Total Population Distribution and Annual Demographic Growth Rates, by Age Group and Median Age in Mercosur
Countries
Source: Centro Latino Americano de Demografia. Boletin Demográfico. América Latina, Proyecciones de Población, 1950-2025.
169
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TABLE 8
Annual Demographic Growth Rate in Mercosur Countries
Source: Centro Latino Americano de Demografia. Boletin Demográfico. América Latina, Proyecciones de Población, 1950-2025.
discussed here, the lower percentage of the
younger population may provide
possibilities for improved educational
opportunities and better professional training
in the context of globalization. There is high
participation of the economically active adult
age groups, across the board. As can be
seen in Table 7, the 20-59 age group tends
to an increasing percentage of the total
population, with an also growing population
potential in terms of the labor market,
strengthened by a likely increasing trend in
women’s participation.
As can also be seen in Tables 7 and 8,
the participation of the 60-and-above age
bracket is increasing, which brings up the
emerging question regarding the so-called
“third age” in those countries, with serious
170
implications on health and welfare systems
in a context marked by a declining state
participation in the financial support of social
policies.
2. Recent Migratory Movements
One characteristic of the recent
international migration in the Southern Cone
countries was the prevalence of two basic
patterns: one, already mentioned, was
toward industrialized countries, especially
to the U.S.A., and the other, can be
described as intra-regional migration
(Chakiel & Villa, 1992).
The migration toward industrialized
countries increases as Latin-American
countries consolidate their educational
Patarra, N.
systems and broaden the middle sectors of
their populations. This fact underlines the
difficulties inherent in retaining qualified
human resources and those sectors where
education is a factor for social ascent.
Consumer habits and lifestyles similar to
those in developed countries, related to
globalization and the mass media generate
desires that could be fulfilled in the home
countries. They therefore result in potential
migrations, that, due to selectivity, have major
implications on intra-regional movements
and on changes in the labor market in the
context of economic integration (Pellegrino,
1996).
Even in Brazil - a country with a traditional
migratory attraction and considered as having
a closed population in recent decades estimates for 1980-91 indicate a negative
international migration balance of 1.4 million
people. This was a surprise even to
population experts, and was considered
embarrassing to agents of civil society.
Based on supposed values related to the
image of a receptor country, Brazil saw the
departure of young people of urban middle
sectors with intermediary schooling as a
failure of the national development project
(Patarra, 1995).
Intra-regional migration, on the other
hand, cannot be considered a new
phenomenon in Latin America. In a regional
context, some borders are especially
permeable to migratory movements. This
type of population mobility has occurred
mostly between regions with common
historical and cultural roots. In fact, these
intra-regional movements are converted into
international migrations by political borders.
Inequalities between countries in the
process of development caused international
migratory movements, which constitute a type
of internal migration in the respective
countries, because such displacements
mean a “trans-frontier” extension of the same
social processes (Palau, 1997). More
recently, due to processes of integration and
globalization, and the consequent opening
of markets, intra-regional migration has
taken on more dynamic and expressive
forms, exactly in those Latin-American subregions where economic blocks are in
Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
formation. In these regions, processes of
economic integration are stimulating
economic exchange and movements of
populations.
In the Southern Cone these types of
migratory movements are especially prone
to change, both between and within
countries. Recent economic integration and
increased communication between
Mercosur countries tend to consolidate binational spaces with specific dynamics,
where migratory flows are permanent and
opportunities for work act as integrated
regional markets (Pellegrino, 1996).
In spite of this integration, inequalities
among countries are growing, and have
resulted in a greater volume of displacements
of populations that, no longer limited within
the national borders, can be classified as
“trans-frontier” migrations, and include
movements between metropolitan regions
in the Mercosur.
As was stated above, Argentina, Uruguay
and Brazil, traditional recipients of European
immigration (as well as Asian in the case
of Brazil), received their most recent influx
in the years immediately following World
War II. Since then, and as early as the 1930s,
the most intense movements of populations
consisted of redistribution processes of the
countries’ own internal populations and,
in particular, of country-to-city migration in
the urbanization process within each
society.
At least until the mid-1970s, Argentina
continued to be a strong receiver of migrants
from neighboring countries (Bolivia, Chile,
Paraguay and Uruguay). But it was also
simultaneously a sending country (Maguid,
1993), a trend that had been detected since
the 1960s, including for political reasons
which determined mass emigrational flows,
including technicians and qualified
professionals.
Uruguay became a sender country,
characterized by great numbers of
emigrants leaving for other countries,
including neighboring Argentina. On the
whole, the magnitude of the emigration
process from Uruguay, especially during the
1970s, caused a decrease in the country’s
population, in absolute terms, in 1974-75
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Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
(Niedworok & Fortuna, 1989). Among the
factors which caused Uruguay to be a
sending country of international migrations
are not only political. They are also the effect
of an economic crisis that lasted several
decades and resulted in the emigration of
large numbers of young people. Although
economic indicators show signs of
recuperation, effects of settlement abroad
of a rather large population still tend to
encourage the trend toward emigration
(Palau, 1997).
Besides a recent emigration trend
toward First-World countries, as mentioned
above, Brazil is in third place among the
Latin-American receiver countries of
immigrations, although the total numbers of
immigrants from Mercosur countries is
substantially lower than that toward
Argentina. Brazil’s state policies favoring
scientific and technological research, and
the development of modern industrial
sectors, had specific effects on the
composition and integration of migratory
streams. In the 1970, Brazil incorporated the
most qualified Latin-American migratory
flows. In fact, more than 10% of all
immigrants were professionals and
technicians. For the flows from Argentina,
Uruguay and Paraguay, this proportion
corresponded to 25%, 15% and 9%,
respectively. Similarly, the proportion of
immigrants to Brazil with more than 10 years
of schooling is significantly higher than that
seen among the Latin American immigrants
to Argentina. During the 1970s, a certain
amount of economic expansion resulted in
attracting immigrants, while many
Argentineans abroad also returned to their
country (Palau, 1997).
More recently, Brazil has been receiving
a new type of immigrant from other Latin
American countries, especially Peru and
Bolivia, belonging to poorer urban social
groups who move to the large cities,
especially São Paulo. There they become
engaged in producing articles for
exportation. This type of movement
undoubtedly corresponds to the new restructuring phase of metropolitan economy,
TABLE 9
Argentina: Permanentily Settled foreign Population, by Nationatily, 1986
Source: INDEC. Anuario Estadístico de la República Argentina - 1983-1986. From Fundação IBGE. Mercosul: sinopse estatística,
v. 1, Rio de Janeiro, 1993.
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Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
and is gaining force. It is very difficult,
however, to estimate numbers, but there
may be as many as 100,000 only in the São
Paulo Metropolitan Area alone.
The case of the emigration of Brazilians
to other neighboring Southern Cone
countries deserves special attention. To a
considerable extent, this movement is
closely related to Brazil’s governmental
agrarian policies during the 1970s and
1980s, and has had very negative effects.
Whether overtly in favor of agrarian reform,
or merely for the apparent democratization
of access to the land and for small farm
production, those policies had indirect effects
which favored the development of an
agrarian land market and, in addition, the
arrival of large groups and industries in
Brazil’s agricultural structure, seriously
harming the more traditional, family-based
production (Sales, 1996).
Displacements of Brazil’s rural
population - especially toward Paraguay, but
also toward Argentina and Uruguay - were
closely related to a process of raising the
land values (Reydon & Plata, 1995). The
movement toward those countries include
rural landowners and agriculture
entrepreneurs in search of cheaper land for
production or speculation, as well as rural
workers or small farmers, numerically much
more significant and motivated by the need
for the possibility of subsistence, as they had
been dispossessed in the process of the
modernization of agriculture and technical
advances.
TABLE 10
Brazil: Naturalized Brazilians and Foreigners, by Sex, According to Country of Birth
Source: Censo Demográfico: Dados Gerais, Fundação IBGE, Mercosul: sinopse estatística, v. 1, Rio de Janeiro, 1993.
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In the case of the displacements toward
Argentina and Uruguay, the landowners
themselves are probably buying land in the
border areas of those countries, and - either
permanently or, in most cases, temporally taking with them the manpower to be used
to handle the crops. This type of migration is
usually illegal in nature, and the many of
the workers involved tend to return at the
end of the harvest or, sometimes, even every
weekend (Sales, 1996). This arrangement
might be described as a kind of “transfrontier seasonal worker (known in Brazil
as bóias-frias [cold chows].” According to
local information, today Brazilians represent
up to 50% of all rice producers in Uruguay.
The presence of Brazilian producers in
Argentina is lower, but is nevertheless
considerable: 250 out of 1000 rice producers
are Brazilians, for example. Part of the base
of this phenomenon is the very high price of
land in Brazil. In Brazil as a whole, the mean
price jumped from US$ 100 in the late
1860s to US$ 800 in the 1950s. In the State
of São Paulo they rose from US$ 200 to
US$ 1,000 during the same period
(Reydon & Plata).
Brazilian advances onto Paraguayan
land was made possible by the occupation
policy of both countries. Since its dictatorial
regime the Paraguay government allowed
foreigners to acquire land, with the purpose
of promoting its agricultural development.
In the process, the federal welfare system
TABLE 11
Migrant Population of Latin-American Countries Who Settled in Brazil between 1981 and 1991,
According to Country of Birth
Source: Fundação IBGE, Censo Demográfico, 1991.
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set down regulations to control the process.
That policy became a stimulation for and an
increase in the migratory flow which, as of
the 1960s, produced the population groups
known as the “Braziguayans,” perhaps
numerically the most significant flow of
Brazilian emigration. The Paraguayan
census showed a total of 2,144 Brazilians
living in the country, while estimates by the
Foreign Affairs Ministry, gathered from
consular agents indicate up to 350,000
Brazilians in the country. Estimates of the
Roman Catholic Migrant Worker Ministry
estimate that there are approximately 500,000
Brazilians living in Paraguay.
This significant migratory volume
remains unchanged, despite the evidence
of the return of some Brazilians, especially
to the State of Mato Grosso do Sul,
particularly in the second half of the 1980s.
This return, however, would lead one to the
hypothesis of a certain circularity in
populational movements between the two
countries, most of these migrant being of
rural origin or otherwise involved in farming
activities, a process that deserves special
TABLE 12
Paraguay: Permanently Admitted Immigrants, by Sex, According to Country of Birth
Sources: Dirección General de Estadística, Encuestas y Censo, Anuario Estadístico del Paraguay, Fundação IBGE, Mercosul:
sinopse estatística, v. 1, Rio de Janeiro, 1993.
175
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TABLE 13
Uruguay: Population Living in the Country but Born Abroad, by Sex, According to Country of Birth
Source: Dirección General de Estadística, Encuestas y Censo, Anuario Estadístico del Uruguay; Fundação IBGE, Mercosul:
sinopse estatística, v. 1, Rio de Janeiro, 1993.
attention in the context of economic
integration. The press has recently
described a series of conflicts between
Uruguayan and Brazilian farm workers in
these areas, as a consequence of new land
tenure policies and differences in the prices
of agricultural products, due to economic
agreements in the context of the Asunción
Agreement.
Paraguay, in turn, has the character of
a country that both exports and imports
populations. Immigration to the country, in
total volumes, never reached the
magnitude seen in other countries in the
region, but the proportional weight in
relation to the total population has been
increasing. The emigratory movement of
Paraguayans, in contrast, has been
considerable, headed especially to
Argentina where, according to 1970
Census data, consisted of 10% of the
Paraguay-born population. During the
1970s, economic expansion resulted in the
attraction of immigrants and the return of
considerable numbers who had formerly
migrated to Argentina (Palau, 1997).
It is important to underscore that, since
the 19th century, the Paraguayan economy
has been strongly dependent on the
Argentinean market. There was a
176
reorientation in the 1970s, with the
preponderance of exports and imports from
Brazil. Brazilian investments became the
main source of funds moving into the
country, to the point of 60% of all financial
operations being controlled by Brazilian
banks.
Tables 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, using
somewhat different criteria, show the total
number of foreigners living in the respective
countries in recent years.
3. Economic Integration, Labor Market
and Emerging Social Issues
The effects of the period of adjustment
in Latin American countries regarding
finances, employment and wage levels, as
well as on the performance of governmental
policies, are an important area for debate
and discussion (see, among others,
Tockman, 1993; Castro, 1996; Cepal,
1993; Tavares & Fiori, 1993; Cano, 1991;
Pochman, 1996). The foreign debt crisis of
the early 1980 constituted a real threat to
the continuation of the industrialization
process, with the per capita income in a
period of stagnation, unstable labor market
and paralysis of the public sector. The role
of exports grew with the increasing
Patarra, N.
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privatization process, against the debts of
the public sector and its incapacity to
continue investing in numerous economic
and social areas.
Inflation was put under control with the
consequent monetary stability, and there
were some signs of increases in the per
capita income. Nevertheless the paralysis
of the public sector persists, with inadequate
social policies and enormous difficulties in
returning to sustained growing. Therefore,
the current context is the combined result of
the opening of the economy, reduction in
state action, labor market deregulation, and
privatization of the state productive sector.
In addition, increased international
competitiveness has forced a lowering of
labor costs, market deregulation, and the
institution of privileged mechanisms that
favor world trade and the expansion of
employment (Pochman, 1996). Therefore,
measures related to the labor area have
privileged the flexibilization of labor rights,
without concern for its effects on wage
inequality, income concentration, and labor
market instability.
After the so-called Washington
agreement, Latin American countries in
general tended to follow the prescriptions
for reforms and economic adjustments
presented by international agencies. The
IMF has played a major role as a formulator
of macroeconomic policies, monetary
stability (by reducing public expenses), the
opening of trade, accumulation of reserves,
inflation control, etc. Concurrently, the World
Bank induced the so-called “structural
reforms,” which necessarily included
market deregulation, the opening of trade
and finances, state downsizing, public
sector privatization, etc. In such a context,
social and labor items in agreements are
increasingly governed by the rules of world
trade, with the loss of autonomy of national
policies. The intense internationalization of
the economy, in turn, acts through networks
of investments and production planning in
various regions of the world, with highly
rational economies and competitive
advantages, contributing to the weakening
of the autonomy of national policies
(Pochman, 1996).
This situation implies major changes in
the social division of labor. Craftsmanship
and traditional professionals are rapidly
disappearing. There is a strong trend
concurrent trend toward the specialization
of labor, which, in turn, demands constant
TABLE 14
Percentile Distribution of the Labor Force (1989-93) Mercosur Countries
Source: ILO, 1994.
(*) Not including agriculture and mining.
177
Patara, N.
qualification and higher capability of
manpower. Broad unemployment ensues,
even in countries where manpower is more
highly qualified. The demand for manpower
has decreased everywhere, and not only in
the more industrialized areas, even for
occupations related to contracted and
subcontracted services. The rise of new
forms of occupation, many of which consist
of part-time or household work, has resulted
in the intensification of the informal use of
manpower, which tends to increase at a
faster pace than formal employment, and in
a more unstable labor market (Pochman,
1996).
As can be seen below, the labor forces
in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay decreased
between 1989 and 1993. In the same
period, household services and the
participation of small industries took on
considerable importance, and are even on
the rise. The informal sector, in turn,
represented approximately one quarter of
the labor force in the respective countries
(Table 14), with a trend toward continuous
growth in subsequent years.
The general characteristics of the labor
market in the Mercosur context include the
above-mentioned trend toward increased
participation of women. Between 1950 and
1990, the female proportion of total
manpower grew from 20.0% to 27.0% in
Argentina, from 15.4% to 29.6% in Brazil,
from 21.9% to 24.4% in Paraguay, and from
18.7% to 38.5% in Uruguay (Table 15). For
an idea of the size of this labor market at the
end of the century, it should be kept in mind
that, in 2000, the estimated total labor force
Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
for these four countries is approximately 90
million people, meaning 15, 72, 2 and 1,5
million, in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and
Uruguay, respectively. This corresponds to
41.1%, 43.0%, 38.5% and 46.9% of their total
populations (Palau, 1997:7).
It is on that reality that the effects of the
Mercosur Trade Agreement has begun to
act, with its characteristics, its potential, as
well as its limitations and difficulties. The
Asunción Treaty was part of an earlier series
of integration agreements going back to the
1960s, with questionable results. It was
signed in 1991, with the main goal of
broadening the national markets of the
signing countries, through economic
integration. This point is considered
essential for including the sub-region into
the contemporary international scene and
accelerating its development processes,
with social justice. For this purpose, the
countries agreed to establish the free
exchange of goods, services and productive
factors, common import-export rates, the coordination of macro economic and sectorial
policies, and the harmonization of pertinent
laws (Tratado para a Construção..., 1991). The
document does not include agreements or
mechanisms to promote or regulate the
social dimension of integration agreements
(De Filippo, 1997:35).
Therefore, the aim of social justice, as
propounded in the foreword of that document,
indicates no specific means for actions to
guarantee protective commitments toward
the social groups involved, nor the articulation
of processes to promote acceptable living
conditions for the social segments that are
TABLE 15
Evolution of the Proportion of Women in the Total Labor Force between 1950 and 1990 in Latin American
in General and in Mercosur Countries
Source: Valdés & Gomáriz, 1995 (apud Abramo, 1997).
178
Patarra, N.
most vulnerable to the globalization process.
In the years subsequent to the signing of
the agreement, the only aspects related to
social matters in the context of the new
geopolitical space were those involving a
minimum of regulation and the
compatibilization of labor relations. This
sphere, however, means merely an attempt
to concretize the proposals of economic
integration with the free trade of goods,
postponing the inevitable regulation of the
free circulation of persons.
As far back as 1991, at a meeting of
the Ministers of Labor of the signatory
countries, held in Montevideo, while
recognizing the necessity of considering
labor issues, the governments agreed to
carry out “all necessary cooperation for the
reciprocal knowledge of the diverse
regimes related to employment, social
security, professional formation, and
individual and collective labor relations.“
As a result, the group created the Labor
Subgroup, providing for the representation
of entrepreneurs and workers of the four
countries (Espino, 1995).
The Asunción Document created the
Common Market Council, a high-level body
charged with political and decision-making
powers, encompassing the ministers of
Foreign Affairs and of Labor of the countries
involved, with presidency rotating among
the four nations. The Common Market
Group is its executive organ, coordinated
by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and,
among other attributions, this body may set
up the necessary working subgroups. Ten
subgroups were created for coordinating
macroeconomic and social policies. In the
first drafts, provisions were that the
Mercosur should establish organs to
represent the interests of the diverse
socioeconomic groups. These organs were
known as the Social and Political
Representative Organs. At first, only the
Mercosur Industrial Council was set up. At
the meeting in Ouro Preto (1994), it was
decided to incorporate that Council into the
Economic and Social Consulting Forum,
which meant an enlargement of the Council
to include other segments, similar to the
Economic and Social Committee of the
Braz. Journ. Pop. Stud., Campinas, 2, 1999/2000
European Union. The Joint Parliamentary
Commission (CPC), with consulting and
decision-making powers, completed the
incipient list of possibilities in treating social
questions in the Mercosur Treaty.
In this context, the trade union
movement has participated in a permanent
and organized way, not only concerning
labor issues, but also as almost the only
body related to social claims (Castro, 1995
and 1996). It has benefited from the course
of the Trade Union Center Coordination
(CCSCS), created in 1987. In this way, the
trade union movement has had played an
increasingly important role since the signing
of the Asunción Treaty: “CCSCS
participation in negotiations, although of
little significance in the whole of decisions,
exerted an influence on the pace of
integration, better contacts between trade
union organizations and knowledge of
problems and the possible consequences
of Mercosur on the workers” (translated
from Castro, 1995:143).
The action of the labor union
movement lay in its concern over the
inequalities and the dimensions of the
economy of the four countries. It has decried
the enormous reduction in industry due to
competition between companies, the
flexibilization of national labor policies, and
the reduction of social benefits. As has
been underscored, the national models
being established have increased
unemployment, worsened income
distribution, and expanded social
marginalization (Castro, 1995:143).
Among its other tasks, the political
action of trade unions faces the need for
minimum compatibility among labor laws
in the four countries. Legal mechanisms for
hiring and firing workers, treatment of
retirement, contributions by companies and
workers to associations and unions, etc.,
are quite diverse and often vague. The
defining of compatible mechanisms among
the countries has become urgent, due to
the region’s high potential migration.
Different ways of dealing with these matters
may affect the unstable and unprotected
migration movements, since migrational
policies can only attenuate the negative
179
Patara, N.
effects of the integration process by jointly
addressing these issues.
The welfare issue is also in urgent need
of attention. Mercosur countries are going
through processes of reformulating their
policies. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay
were the first to adopt social-security
regimes, although they are now the countries
with the highest deficits in this area. An
increase of the number and the duration of
retirements, partly due to the increased life
expectancy, as well as the effects of inflation
and administrative difficulties, make these
systems a priority issue in the current
attempts at reformulating the state
apparatus.
The main aspect of these reformulation
processes has been the need to reduce the
differences between total financing and
resources, and contribution levels. Another
need is to establish agreements that will
provide benefits to immigrant workers in
their country of residence, as vested or
acquired rights (Tockman & Wurganft, 1995).
Similarly, different health and educational
laws and policies are necessary instances
for accompanying in the Mercosur trade
schedule, in order to prevent greater
inequalities and explicit or potential conflicts
in a sub-region where migrations tend to
become an intrinsic part of economic and
social dynamics.
To summarize, a broad range of issues
must be faced in Mercosur’s trade union and
social schedule. The women’s movement
has already organized two discussion
forums and has insisted on the need to face
social questions in the context of
international integration, from a gender
perspective. Different segments of civil
society will also surely tend to act in a more
dynamic way in monitoring the increasing
and diverse displacements of populations
and the disorganization of social life in the
context of integration.
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