This article analyses the relationship between remittances and the subsistence strategies of low-income households in four capital cities of the Caribbean Basin. The switch to an export-oriented model of development implemented in response to the economic crisis of the beginning of the 1980s deteriorated the labor market conditions in the region, making it difficult to subsist on local incomes. The findings point to the importance of migrant remittances on urban low-income households in terms of the number of households receiving remittances, their importance for the household income, and their effects on labor market participation of the head of the household, as well as additional members. They suggest that remittances are a rational strategy followed by households confronting very difficult labor market conditions. © 1995 The University of North Carolina Press.

[No Keywords available]

Comparative Studies labour market Caribbean developing region urban economy migrants' remittance household income coping strategy