Mexico's poverty gap widens
By Peter Gellert
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's much touted economic miracle is further and further out of reach for most Mexicans, according to a feature story published in the Mexican daily El Financiero.
While the administration of President Carlos Salinas De Gortari has succeeded in bringing rampant inflation under control and slashing the public deficit, recent studies indicate that 50 million Mexicans — out of a total of 85 million — are living below the poverty level. Twenty million live in conditions of extreme poverty.
According to government figures, 25 million Mexicans earn between one and two times the minimum wage. This means 42% of the economically active population makes between US$4.25 and US$8.50 a day, not enough to maintain a family. An additional 10% don't even earn the minimum wage.
The pro-government Congress of Labour says that the minimum wage allows a worker to purchase only 67% of basic necessities — food, housing and clothing.
At the same time, only 8.2% of the population earns anything above $650 a month. Martha and Ernesto Gutierrez struggle to make ends meet while raising three children. He holds down two jobs that bring in 3 million pesos a month, about $965.
Martha's job at the national university adds another 1.2 pesos a month, but payments on their modest apartment, schooling for their children and basic food and utilities leave them with a mere $84 a month to cover medical emergencies, clothing and any other extras.
As in many other latin American countries, the economic changes of recent years have favoured an explosion of the underground or informal sectors, with millions of Mexicans boosting family incomes through street sales of anything from chewing gum to fancy stereo equipment.
The underground economy now makes up an estimated 25-30% of the country's gross domestic product.
A decade-long decline in living standards began in the early 1980s. The period has been referred to as Latin America's lost decade.
Government leaders were optimistic 10 years ago, promising that the challenge of the '80s would be to properly manage the massive wealth that was expected from record oil exports and prices. But the sudden drop in oil income and declining industrial exports quickly dispelled such illusions.
Today, President Salinas' government is trying to undo the effects of those crisis years and begin a new decade of economic growth.