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Panama The Lower Class
The lower class constituted the bulk of the country's urban
population. As a group, it was stratified by employment and race.
In terms of livelihood it was made up of unskilled or semiskilled
workers, including artisans, vendors, manual laborers, and
servants. The basic cleavages were between those who were wage
earners and the self-employed, and those employed in the former
Canal Zone, who constituted a "labor elite" earning twice the
average of the metropolitan region as a whole.
Self-employment offered a precarious existence to most who
pursued it, but served as an alternative for those unable to find
other work when the economy contracted in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Unemployment ran in excess of 10 percent in the late 1970s and
early 1980s, and much of it was concentrated in the metropolitan
region, which accounted for approximately four-fifths of the
country's jobless. In poorer neighborhoods, the rate ran closer to
25 percent, and among low-income families, roughly 40 percent were
unemployed
(see Human Resources and Income
, ch. 3).
Because the majority of rural-urban migrants to the
metropolitan region were women, women outnumbered men in many
larger urban areas. Many came in search of work as domestics.
Young, single mothers constituted a significant proportion of the
urban population; in Colón, for example, they represented one-third
of all families. Women suffered higher unemployment rates than did
men, and their earnings, when they were employed, averaged less
than half those of males.
Ethnically, the lower class had three principal components:
mestizo migrants from the countryside, children and grandchildren
of Antillean blacks, and Hispanicized blacks--descendants of former
slaves. The split between Antillean blacks and the rest of the
populace was particularly marked. Although there was some social
mixing and intermarriage, religious and cultural differences
isolated the Antilleans. They were gradually becoming more
Hispanicized, but the first generation usually remained oriented
toward its Caribbean origins, and the second and third generations
were under North American influence through exposure to United
States citizens in the former Canal Zone where most were employed.
Although some Antillean blacks were middle class, most remained in
the lower class.
Increasing numbers of urban lower-class parents were sending
their children to school. A secondary-school diploma, in
particular, served as a permit to compete for white-collar jobs and
elevation to middle-class status. This kind of mobility was on the
rise throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Mestizos were better able to
take advantage of these opportunities than most, but Antilleans who
were educated and conformed to Hispanic cultural norms enjoyed
considerable mobility as well. The National Guard, and later the
FDP, have been an avenue of advancement for both Hispanic and
Antillean blacks. A substantial portion of the enlisted personnel
have come from the ranks of the black urban poor and, increasingly,
the rural mestizo population. Enlisted personnel could hope to
advance to the officer corps. Under the Torrijos regime, many troop
commanders were promoted from the ranks.
Data as of December 1987
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