Precarious jobs and lower wages for professionals in Mexico

During the past six years , wages for citizens with master’s and doctorate degrees have decreased in Mexico. According to a report conducted by the Ibero-American University , instead of increasing, wages for people of postgraduate level have dropped 13% , although the poor now have higher levels of education.

According to an investigation from the Salaries Observatory of the Ibero-American University in Mexico City and Puebla , in 2012 , an individual with a PhD and professional experience of between 11 and 13 years earned an average of 23,604 pesos a month (USD$1,197 as per the existing rate). In 2016, the average income dropped to 20,666 pesos (USD$1,048), which represented a 12% decrease .

Among people with a master’s degree and an accumulated professional experience of between 11 and 13 years, incomes dropped from an average of 22,373 pesos in 2012 to 19,981 in 2016

, which represented an 11% decrease. Those with between two and four years of professional experience saw their income drop from 15,188 to 14,818 pesos.

“Although the drop in wages for workers who are highly qualified has reduced the pay gap in the country, this only represents a transformation in the composition of poverty, which is slowly moving towards the most educated segments of Mexican society . The decrease in purchasing power among the most educated citizens is proof of this,” the report showed.

The analysis conducted by the university, which was entitled “Sexennial period of precarious employment and low wages” found that, although 3.19 million jobs were created between the years 2013 and 2018 , they only offered twice the minimum wage or less . Somewhere between 2,652 (USD$134.54) and 5,304 (USD$269) pesos a month .

By comparison, around 1.58 million jobs for people making more than three and even five times the minimum wage (USD$403.6-$672.7) were lost . Among people who were paid more than five minimum wages (more than 760 dollars a month), around 1.03 million jobs were lost.

“The precariousness of working conditions is clear when we review the number of people without social security who are hired under temporary contract and have no employee benefits whatsoever. The decrease of quality jobs was accompanied by the creation of job vacancies offering lower wages and the elimination of positions with higher salaries ,” the report states.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) , low education levels among Mexicans are the main cause of “high inequality levels in the job market.”

Among countries participating in the OECD, Mexico ranks lowest in number of citizens with a high school degree . It is estimated that 65% of adults did not finish high school , while the average in the OECD is of 22% .

No jobs in Mexico for the young and educated

dm