O objetivo geral desta pesquisa consistiu em contribuir para o melhor conhecimento do mercado de trabalho não-qualificado, procurando-se identificar seus principais elementos econômicos. Procurou-se apresentar, em suas linhas gerais, o pensamento das escolas Clássica, Marxista e Neoclássica a respeito da demanda e oferta ta de mão-de-obra. A teoria básica deste trabalho é a Neoclássica, pois esta oferece uma metodologia para se especificar economicamente o funcionamento do mercado de mão-de-obra volante. O período estende-se de novembro de 1969 a março de 1974. O fato de utilizarem-se observações em vários períodos do ano (Janeiro, Março, Junho, Novembro) possibilitou captar-se informações referentes à estacionalidade do trabalho temporário no meio rural. Todos os modelos foram testados na forma logarítmica, onde os coeficientes das variáveis independentes representam as elasticidades. O mercado de trabalho de mão-de-obra volante no Estado de São Paulo foi representado por equações simultâneas, onde as variáveis endógenas são a quantidade e o salário. As estimativas dos parâmetros das equações estruturais foram obtidas pelo Método de Quadrados Mínimos de Dois Estágios ou de Theil Basmann. Os dados básicos foram do Instituto de Economia Agrícola do Estado de São Paulo, e da Fundação Getúlio Vargas.

The general objective of this research was to contribute to a better understanding of the unskilled labor market, in an attempt to identify its main economic elements. The labor market for the day laborers (“volantes”) in the State of São Paulo was represented by simultaneous equations, where the endogenous variables are quantity and salary. The estimates of the parameters of the structural equations were obtained utilizing the method of Theil-Basmann. The empirical results of this study generally support the basic hypotheses formulated. The current level of the salary in the urban area, which is highly correlated to the official minimum salary, exerts a great attraction over the day-labor force. The elasticity of the day-labor supply in relation to the minimum salary, in the order of 11.3, represents this great appeal. The price elasticity of the day-labor supply, about 3.4, however, suggests that the day-labor force is, not indifferent to the agricultural work market. The great difference between this elasticity and the minimum salary elasticity shows that, to recover all the contingent lost to the urban area, agriculture must increase its salary more than proportionally. ln the absence of rapid technological change and a shift in farming activities, agriculture could not give up all the labor attracted to the cities by a hypothetical increase in the minimum salary. The modernization of the agricultural sector in the State of São Paulo due to the introduction of agricultural practices of several types, has increased the productivity of the production factors considerably. The increasing incorporation of capital in agriculture has reflected on the employment of decreasing proportions of unskilled labor. To the extent that the urban sectors are incapable of absorbing such population surpluses. the reserve contingent of unskilled workers tends to increase. It is possible to observe the existence of this surplus by the magnitude of the coefficients of demand elasticity, associated with the urban and rural salaries. The coefficients reflect high sensitiveness of the day-labor to salary increases. However, this sensitiveness is much more marked in response to variations in the urban salary, which makes available to these sectors high contingents of labor at the institutional minimum salary level. The high mobility of the unskilled workers in the absence of class representation offers conditions for the degradation of working conditions for this part of the active population. This problem becomes even more serious especially in the rural areas where the official organizations find greater difficulty in enforcing labor laws.