Wage Crisis So Bad It Violates Mexico's Constitution Christopher Woody - Business Insider
go to original August 6, 2015

Produce pickers wait for a bus as they travel to work in a neighborhood in San Quintin in Baja California state, Mexico.

At the end of 2014, Mexico’s 16 billionaires were worth an average of nearly $US9 billion. That same year, the bottom 20% of Mexicans — nearly 25 million people — were worth an average of $US80.

Economic hardship is widespread in Mexico, which is home to more than 120 million people, more than half of whom lived in poverty at the end 2012. Now inequality and wage disparity have emerged as further challenges to the development of Latin America’s second-largest economy.

According to a study of the 34 member countries of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, the gap between wages and hours worked is larger in Mexico than in any other member country.

The gap in wealth and in wages is visible across Mexico’s economic strata. According to OECD figures, the country’s richest 10% earn more than 30 times what the poorest 10% make — making it the most unequal of the organization’s 34 countries. Mexico’s bottom 20% doesn’t make enough to eat three meals a day.

OECD data show that Mexican workers labored 2,327 hours on average during 2014, far ahead of the 1,796 hours worked by Americans.

Those workers, however, were only paid $US12,850 (based on purchasing power parity) during the year, which ranks at the bottom of the OECD’s list. Estonia was second to last at $US21,020. Americans earned $US57,139 during the same period.

In parts of the country where pay is better (i.e. urban zones), the minimum salary for Mexicans is 70.1 pesos ($US4.35) per day, according to El Daily Post. The government also sets a monthly minimum income for well-being, including essential purchases like food, transportation, and hygiene, that stands at 2,628 pesos ($US163.13) in urban areas.

A worker making the minimum salary would need to labor for just over 37 days per month to bring in that monthly minimum — assuming they didn’t have any dependents to care for.

In total, writes the El Daily Post, more than half of all Mexican workers fall short of this monthly standard.

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