Social exclusion and economic disintegration of agricultural day laborers: A comparative analysis between Mexico and Spain

Abstract

Day laborers are at the bottom of rural society: their incomes are lower than those of any other social group, and the seasonal nature of their activity means that they are forced to emigrate in search of scarce available employment. The lack of economic integration; that is to say, the lack of stable income and employment together with meager prospects for the future, which excludes them from the welfare state, causes a situation of social exclusion. This article, based on a qualitative approach, analyzes in a comparative way the situation of social exclusion of casual agricultural workers in Andalusia and Extremadura (Spain) and Tamaulipas (Mexico); understanding this concept as the economic disintegration of day laborers.