The purpose of this paper is to determine trends in the wages and living standards of male agricultural labourers in Central Chile during the agrarian expansion, c. 1870-1930. We found that nominal wages increased eightfold; this is relevant because wage labour became the main rural labour regime in this period. Nominal wages rose steadily from the early 1870s until 1910, and with significant fluctuations thereafter, before plummeting with the Great Depression. Real wages also increased, but only slightly. Furthermore, during certain short periods, agricultural labourers' real wages were similar to or higher than those of low-skilled urban workers. However, the persistent gap between agricultural and non-agricultural wages was one of the causal factors of the outmigration of rural workers.

El rol del sector agrícola durante la ISI y el debate respecto del salario agrícola y las condiciones de vida de los campesinos tienen una larga historiografía, sin embargo hasta la actualidad existe poca información empírica relativa a los ingresos del campesinado en el largo plazo. En este trabajo nos proponemos reflexionar acerca del nivel que alcanzaron los salarios durante el período y para ello presentaremos una nueva serie de salarios reales para 1934-1973. Buscamos analizar su comportamiento en función de la productividad laboral del sector, en relación con los jornales industriales y considerando el marco institucional en este período.