External Opportunities In Ecuador Based In The Income That Comes From Overseas
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Publicado: 18 de noviembre de 2012
External opportunities based in the income that comes from overseas:
About 15% of the Ecuadorian population (about 2 million people) live and work abroad. Most migrants move to more developedcountries especially Spain and the United States, where they take on a variety of low paying and often low status jobs and send remittances home to their families. In fact, roughly 6% of Ecuador's GDP isgenerated by migrants sending home remittances. Migrants from Ecuador leave for a variety of economic and social reasons including high rates of poverty (Ecuador's Central Bank reports that 70% of thepopulation is "poor"), highly unequal distribution of wealth and an entrenched system of social prestige that constrains economic opportunity for many. Poverty in Ecuador is closely linked toethnicity and many of the most economically vulnerable are members of indigenous populations and those of mixed race rural backgrounds with little access to education or capital. As the population increasesmany rural farmers have had to abandon agriculture as plots became too small and subsidies too few. Many have moved to the big cities in the hopes of finding employment and providing their childrenwith a better education than could be found in the country. Most of these rural to urban migrants end up working in the informal sector where making a living are often precarious. Access to good jobs,even among the children of migrants who have city educations, is often linked to family name and inherited networks of relationship. Indeed, much of economic and social life in Ecuador in based on aninformal system of palanca or leverage that privileges those with dense urban social networks and prestigious Spanish surnames. For both the rural and urban poor immigration to Spain or the UnitedStates seems to be the most viable option for providing for the long term future. The material benefits of migration can often be seen in the Ecuadorian countryside where today new home construction...
About 15% of the Ecuadorian population (about 2 million people) live and work abroad. Most migrants move to more developedcountries especially Spain and the United States, where they take on a variety of low paying and often low status jobs and send remittances home to their families. In fact, roughly 6% of Ecuador's GDP isgenerated by migrants sending home remittances. Migrants from Ecuador leave for a variety of economic and social reasons including high rates of poverty (Ecuador's Central Bank reports that 70% of thepopulation is "poor"), highly unequal distribution of wealth and an entrenched system of social prestige that constrains economic opportunity for many. Poverty in Ecuador is closely linked toethnicity and many of the most economically vulnerable are members of indigenous populations and those of mixed race rural backgrounds with little access to education or capital. As the population increasesmany rural farmers have had to abandon agriculture as plots became too small and subsidies too few. Many have moved to the big cities in the hopes of finding employment and providing their childrenwith a better education than could be found in the country. Most of these rural to urban migrants end up working in the informal sector where making a living are often precarious. Access to good jobs,even among the children of migrants who have city educations, is often linked to family name and inherited networks of relationship. Indeed, much of economic and social life in Ecuador in based on aninformal system of palanca or leverage that privileges those with dense urban social networks and prestigious Spanish surnames. For both the rural and urban poor immigration to Spain or the UnitedStates seems to be the most viable option for providing for the long term future. The material benefits of migration can often be seen in the Ecuadorian countryside where today new home construction...
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