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

Abstract

The article carries out an analysis of the labor context in Ecuador during the 1930s with the aim of contributing with new quantitative, legal and contextual information. This information is important as they add three essential elements to understand the work context: economically active population and purchasing power; legal context on labor conditions; and, a brief review on the implementation of the minimum wage. This analysis was carried out based on a historical-comparative and analytical method, taking into account three groups of workers, namely: workers in the public and industrial sector; workers in the interior and small industry; and, workers in rural sectors. Multiple legal benefits have been found for the first group, such as compensation for eviction, premature separation, maternity, disability, overtime worked, in addition to a minimum wage differentiated by zone and type of work. For the second group, the legal benefits are random, and the minimum wages paid are assumed to be daily wages and paid in kind. For the third group, the legal benefits are non-existent, as they live within their own cultural conditions, which excludes them from the legalization of labor systems, their salary compensations are in kind or in food exchange.