Productive absorption of the labour force: an ongoing controversy / ECLAC Economic Projections Centre. -- Metropolization and tertiarization; structural distortions in Latin American development / Aníbal Pinto. -- Poverty and underemployment in Latin America / Alberto Couriel. -- Urbanization and the labour market / Joseph Ramos. -- Sectoral transformations in employment in Latin America / Rubén Kaztman. -- Changes in employment and the crisis / Norberto Garcia and Victor Tokman. -- Social use of the surplus, accumulation, distribution and employment / Armando Di Filippo. -- The international scene and Latin America’s external debt / Luciano Tomassini. -- The international financial crisis: diagnoses and prescriptions / Martine Guerguil.