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Obstacles to Labor Absorption in a Developing Economy: Colombia, a Case in Point

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David T. Geithman  and
Clifford E. Landers
David T. Geithman
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Business, Russell Sage College, Troy, New York
Clifford E. Landers
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Jersey City State College, Jersey City, New Jersey
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Extract

Historically, for the now economically developed countries, a strong positive correlation has normally existed between rising real output and employment levels. Among today's lessdeveloped countries (LDC's) even high growth rates can, and frequently do, fail to generate a concomitant rapid rate of employment expansion. Indeed, so acute is the failure of labor absorption to grow in step with rising incomes that a recent International Labour Organization (I.L.O.) report on Colombia (1970: 47) maintains “development strategy will become very largely employment strategy.”

The unemployment problem is in part due to the rapid population growth rates and even more rapid urban growth rates experienced by most LDC's in the postwar period, and in part it stems from the nature of their development processes (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 1972: 35).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , August 1973 , pp. 309 - 333
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1973

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