Underemployment. An Ordinary Way of Life in Fields of Andalusia in the Late Middle Ages

Abstract

This work deals with the underemployment affecting the majority of the rural population of southern Castile in the final centuries of the Middle Ages. Firstly, we study the formation of the group demanding work in the fields: their characteristics and numerical significance in different economic regions. We analyze also the mechanisms and rates of the offer of temporary employment generated in large properties. The consequences of this system: a weak balance between supply and demand caused the impoverishment of the peasantry.

Keywords

• trabajo
• subempleo
• jornalero
• crédito