Labor Market and Social Protection. With Special Reference to Mexico

Abstract

This article examines the declining role of labor markets in articulating social guarantees to the society, economy and politics. Neoliberal ideology, globalization, demography, and changes in circumstances, explain the displacement of the old goals of employment and growth for international competitiveness. As a result, welfare states suffer erosion and numerous population groups are marginalized or have no voice and influence in policy decisions. Remodeling labor markets according to the old canon seems extremely difficult. Therefore, the renewal of the ethics of equality, might depend upon the transformation of labor social protection into civil rights entitlements, financed by general taxes.