This is a sociological analysis of change and mobility in the labor force of thirteen of the largest textile factories in Peru. The book explores demographic and social variables such as age, sex, birthplace, migration, seniority, current and former occupations, and employment status as possible indices of rationality in the Peruvian labor market. There are two especially striking empirical findings: the Peruvian textile industry has not been plagued by the high levels of labor turnover generally assumed to be inevitable in underdeveloped countries; since 1955 women are being shut out of better-paying manufacturing jobs because of welfare laws that make them more expensive to employ than men.

Originally published in 1967.

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