Protección frente al desempleo estacional y bolsas de trabajo en Uruguay (1944-1979)

During the first half of the 20th century the Uruguayan government tried to implement, although with no success, a general unemployment insurance (UI) scheme for workers in the private sector, which included an employment service. The only time that employersŽ traditional opposition to an employment service was overcome and a regime of this type was implemented occurred in order to address seasonal unemployment in the meatpacking and wool and leather warehousing sectors (1944-1979). These were key sectors in the Uruguayan economy of the time, considering their position as exporters and foreign currency earners, and taking into account that the government was promoting economic structural change via a process of industrialization. Although these institutions offered protection and job stability to a large number of seasonal workers, the financial design of the UI repeated a recurring defect of the Uruguayan social security system, namely structural failures in its sources of finance. A few years after the system was launched, it began registering continuous financial deficits. These deficits required government assistance, turning these benefits for seasonal workers into an economic weight for Uruguayan society as a whole.