A study conducted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has revealed that purchasing power of Mexicans has fallen by 80 percent in the last 30 years.
In 1987, according to the report, a typical worker on minimum wage needed to work about five hours a day to meet the country’s Canasta Alimenticia Recomendable (CAR), i.e., the amount of daily food intake recommended for a healthy existence. However, 30 years later, minimum wage workers now need to work 24.5 hours a day to satisfy the CAR requirement.
“In 1987, a worker had 19.5 hours to commute, eat, go to the bathroom, enjoy family time, go out, walk, sleep, among other activities,” read the study.
A key problem is that increases in the minimum wage constantly fail to keep pace with inflation, making those wage hikes, such as the one effected late last year, dead on arrival.
Despite President Enrique Pena Nieto’s “Crusade Against Hunger,” the National Human Rights Commission reports that 27 million Mexicans are underfed. That number includes 1.2 million children classified as suffering from chronic malnutrition.
However, the latest report by the National Council of Social Development Policy indicates that, from 2010 to 2016, improper access to food fell from 24.8 to 20.1 percent.