Lessons from Latin America: How to Grow the Middle Class
Lessons from Latin America: How to Grow the Middle Class
In a panel on theguardian.com, AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini commented on what it takes to narrow the gap between rich and poor in the region.
Christopher Sabatini, editor-in-chief, Americas Quarterly, New York, United States, @chrissabatini:
Racial inequality is an issue: In Mexico 76% of school age children of more European descent are in secondary school; compared to only 70% of those of indigenous or African descent. And in the formal labour market 45% of the European descendant workforce is in the formal sector (still very low), only 33% of the indigenous or African descendant workforce is in the formal sector.
Understanding the protests: There are two types (not including the Venezuelan protests which are different): the middle class protests for better education in Chile or Brazil and the social protests over land and resource conflicts in Peru, Chile's Patagonia and parts of Brazil. In some cases they overlap, but we shouldn't see all protests today as middle class, some are based on long-standing grievances that are still unresolved....
