in addition to the excessive concentration of property the poor functioning and resulting segmentation of labour markets bring about and reinforce the inequality of opportunities and outcomes so typical of latin america the increased labourmarket flexibility promoted in most countries under the development model adopted in the s failed to lead to faster growth in labour demand rather it introduced job insecurity for a high proportion of workers moreover in conjunction with the increasing instability of employment social benefits tended to be linked to employment contracts thus the relatively unproductive and uncompetitive informal sector persisted and many workers moved towards ownaccount work characterized by low income levels lack of regulation and exclusion from social protection systems in particular from social security and health care