With the growth of the urban middle class and the working class, the State came under pressure to change its approach to social issues, and an industrialization model based on import substitution was adopted. This involved the State managing and ensuring both economic development and the provision of well-being, which was to be achieved by protecting wage-earners as key actors and constructing a segmented protection system. From the debt crisis onwards, economic stabilization and structural adjustment programmes were promoted in the region, marking the arrival of the free-market model. Social policy in the employment field was characterized by measures to deregulate contractual arrangements and improve flexibility in order to lower wage costs. Against a backdrop of high unemployment, job security worsened, and own-account work and informal employment increased.