The source of subjective information is the 1996-2009 Latinobarometro survey, which was not designed to measure perceptions of how labour markets work. The discontinuity of some important questions (which means that series are incomplete or, in the case of some variables, that information is only available for one year), alterations to the wording of some relevant questions (making comparisons difficult) and constraints on sample sizes (making disaggregation by groups within each country unadvisable) are some of the limitations on the information available. Thus, we have preferred to work with analyses aggregated at the regional level (which raises the difficulty that certain conclusions might not be valid for some countries) and with indicators that have the longest time coverage possible. Within the first phase, growth slowed in 1998, and this was followed by stagnation in 1999 and recovery in 2000.