Montevideo was founded by the Spanish Crown in 1726 on the banks of the Río de la Plata, sharing economic space with Buenos Aires. The Uruguayan region experienced a process of economic and demographic growth whose population grew from 3,000 inhabitants in 1760 to 30,000 in 1810. The most important characteristic of the labour market in colonial Montevideo was the lack of labour, where the small size of the population and its jurisdiction were the determining factors for its scarcity. Nevertheless, there are numerous indications that urban and rural labour markets were intertwined. On the supply side, agricultural activity always competed for labour with other sectors. In order to retain workers, it was common for employers to offer, in addition to a monetary wage, additional benefits such as a food ration, accommodation or yerba mate. However, wage labour was characterised by instability of job tenure due to the seasonality of demand, typically marked in the construction sector and in rural activities. As far as is known, some workers were hired on a monthly or weekly basis and even by the day, depending on the activity; there were no written contracts and the conditions of employment were agreed verbally between the worker and the employer. In this sense, and in order to adapt the information to the requirements of the welfare ratio, the monthly wages were converted to daily wages with the assumption of a month of 21 working days. In the case of labourers, in a record from 1796-1802, they obtain a range of 2 to 5 reals per day, although the great majority obtain between 3 and 4 reals per day. Among the skilled trades, there is a general upward trend in almost all cases from 1780 onwards.

Collection: Statistics

Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.

Chronology: XVIII, XIX

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University

Link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/revista-de-historia-economica-journal-of-iberian-and-latin-american-economic-history/article/los-salarios-reales-y-el-nivel-de-vida-en-una-economia-latinoamericana-colonial-montevideo-entre-17601810/B21DFBF88A735DE8373A7042D9DF36AB

Resource type: Statistics

Format: Table

Source: Moraes, María Inés y Thul, Florencia, «Los salarios reales y el nivel de vida en una economía latinoamericana colonial: Montevideo entre 1760–1810», Revista de Historia Económica, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 36, vol. 2 (2018), pp. 185–213.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2018

Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)

Copyright: © María Inés Moraes, ©Florencia Thul © Revista de Historia Económica

Abstract: Daily remuneration of skilled and unskilled workers, which may have been either in cash or in kind

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