Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: The Society and Its Environment
with the elite, the middle-level family solidifies its position
through patronage. An influential family can offer jobs to loyal
followers and supporters. People expect that those with power
will use it for their own ends and to advance their own and
their family's interests. Ties to government are particularly
important, because the government is the source of many coveted
jobs (see Interest Groups and Social Actors, ch. 4).
The Urban Poor
The limited availability of adequately paid and steady
employment continues to define life for most urban Dominicans.
The proportion of poor people has increased for the
whole country but mainly for the urban poor, 64 percent of the
population in the mid-1990s. This proportion increased from
47 percent in 1984 to 57 percent in 1989; the percentage of
indigents increased from 16 to 30 percent for the same period;
and by 1991, 70 percent of the population had fallen below the
poverty line. In 1990, 39 percent of the population was living in
the most impoverished areas of the country—in twenty-two of
the thirty provinces. Unemployment in the 1980s and 1990s
ranged between 25 and 30 percent of the economically active
population. In addition, more than 40 percent of the workforce
is
considered underemployed. In Santo Domingo and
Santiago, the two largest cities, roughly 48 percent of the selfemployed,
more than 50 percent of those paid piece rate, and
85 percent of temporary workers are underemployed. Under
such conditions, those workers having regular employment
constitute a relatively privileged segment of the urban populace.
Rural-urban migration has made the situation of the urban
poor even more desperate because of competition for shelter
and jobs. For the new arrivals, however, the chances of earning
a living are slightly better in cities than in rural areas, although
the advantages of an urban job must be weighed against the
higher cost of food. Although landless or nearly landless agricultural
laborers might find it difficult to work even a garden
plot, the rural family can generally get by on its own food production.
For the urban poor, however, the struggle to eat is
relentless.
Under conditions of chronically high unemployment, low
wages, and, until recently, a restrictive labor code, workers
enjoy little power or leverage. Protective labor laws are limited
in their coverage to workers in private companies with more
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