Wants, Wages, And Workers

Abstract

A need for workers posed a dilemma for the new U.S. administration in the Philippines anxious to demonstrate its progressive intentions and distance itself from the compulsion that had characterized public works during the previous regime. Instead, it turned to the market to �nd both an ideologically acceptable and a practically realizable solution. Commencing with an investigation of extrafamilial work relations during the Spanish period, this article traces the nature and extent of the labor shortage at the turn of the twentieth century. It then discusses the important role of unions before evaluating government policy in the light of subsequent events. In one sense, the American Philippines was the �rst truly modern state in Southeast Asia, infused by the logic of capitalism and informed by market mechanisms.