Mexico Country Study

Transcription

1 Moving Out of Poverty Understanding Growth and Freedom from the Bottom Up Mexico Country Study Authors: Trine Lunde Vicente Garcia Moreno Alejandro Ramirez

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3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction... 3 A. Purpose and Scope of the Study... 3 B. Main Findings... 3 I. Background and Methodology... 5 A. Background... 5 i. National Conditions and Trends... 5 ii. Key Policies Related to Growth, Ethnicity and Poverty Reduction... 8 iii. Differences between Policymakers and Community Timelines B. Methodology i. Sampling Framework ii. Data Collection Tools and Methods iii. Poverty and Mobility Measures II. People s Perceptions of Community Prosperity and Household Mobility A. Perceptions of Community Prosperity and Household Mobility B. Processes behind Community Prosperity and Community Mobility Profiles i. Changes in Sources of Livelihoods in the Past Ten Years ii. Changes in Inequality in the Past Ten Years iii. What Helped and Hindered Community Prosperity in the Past Ten Years C. Household Mobility i. Levels of Wellbeing The steps of the Ladder ii. Factors of Mobility Moving Up and Down the Ladder iii. Economic Activity: Regional and Gender Differences III. Migration to the US A. Migration in Perspective B. Migratory Profiles of Study Communities: The Different Stages of Migration C. The Costs and Gains of Migration to the Household IV. Education A. Education in Study Communities B. Education as a Mechanism of Upward Mobility i. Increased Assistance, more Facilities and Changing Attitudes towards Education ii. The Effect of US Migration on Education in Oaxaca C. Continued Constraints in Access to Upper--Secondary School and Beyond V. Social Capital and Local Government A. How does Social Capital and Local Governance Affect Mobility? B. Social Capital and Local Governance in Oaxaca and Yucatan C. A Closer Look at Study Communities D. Trust and Transition Categories E. Conclusions VI. Conclusions and Policy Implications A. Create Economic Opportunity within Communities B. Improve Access to and Returns from Outside Economic Opportunities

4 Introduction A. Purpose and Scope of the Study This report is part of the World Bank s Moving out of Poverty: Understanding Growth and Freedom from the Bottom Up research project which is a global 15-country study to explore how people move out of poverty permanently over years or remain trapped in chronic poverty, from the perspectives of the men, women and youth who have lived through these experiences. The research project seeks to understand from the bottom-up factors that unleash poor people s economic potential and support their transitions out of poverty. The global breadth of the study enables the exploration of factors that help and hinder movements out of poverty across diverse environments. A leading principle in the study approach is to build on existing data sets to better understand poverty dynamics over time. In particular, the Moving out of Poverty study examines mechanisms at the local level that facilitate or hinder poor people s access to economic opportunity, assets, services and markets that in turn support their movement out of (or cause others to fall into) poverty. Mexico is an upper-middle income country that has achieved a lot of progress over the past ten year: The economy has stabilized since the 1994 crisis; social spending has become increasingly progressive; and new, innovative and more effective poverty reduction programs have been launched. As a result, poverty rates have fallen considerably. There is however one segment of the population for whom these positive trends have not fully reached the indigenous population. Poverty in indigenous communities is higher and more severe than for the population at large, while poverty rates have fallen much more slowly than the national trend. The result is a widening income gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous populations in Mexico. While indigenous peoples have on average not seen much progress in terms of growth in incomes in the past years, this study focuses on communities that have been successful in expanding economic opportunity. The definition of an economically successful indigenous community is based on growth in the share of the population that earns more than 2 minimum wages in the period As such, the study focuses on positive outliers, with a hope to identify what is different about these communities, both in terms of community level factors as well as household and individual level factors. The questions asked are: What characterizes economically successful indigenous communities? And, how and why have some households within these communities moved out of poverty? B. Main Findings Indigenous communities are defined as communities where more than 70 percent of the population is indigenous. These are typically small, rural communities, often located in remote areas with little access to economic markets. Agriculture is the main source of income and the majority engages in subsistence farming. This is also very much the case in the successful communities studied. Overall, we found no internal sources of growth that could explain why incomes in these communities have grown in the past years. However, in the successful communities studied, a high and increasing share of community members leave to find employment elsewhere. Mechanisms of upward mobility are, in other words, those that link individuals to economic opportunities outside their community of origin. 3

5 If the communities themselves offer no mechanisms of mobility, the options available to an individual who wants to move ahead are: (i) to commute to nearby cities or business centers; (ii) to move to nearby cities or business centers (urbanization), (iii) to migrate to other parts of the country; or (iv) to migrate to the US. When we compare the strategies chosen in Yucatán and Oaxaca our two study regions - two different stories emerge: In Oaxaca, leaving the community manifests itself primarily in permanent or temporal migration to other parts of Mexico and to the US. In Yucatán, it is seen in patterns of urbanization or people commuting to nearby cities (Merida and Cancun). The strategies chosen in Yucatán often imply a shift from farm to off-farm employment. In Oaxaca on the other hand, migrants typically (although not always) continue to work in agriculture be it in Northern Mexico or California. Human capital skills and education is a key factor if the chosen mechanism of upward mobility is to commute to nearby business centers and find off-farm employment. Lacking formal education becomes a key constraint. Factors that affect decisions to migrate are somewhat different. Migration carry great costs: crossing the US border can be dangerous and is expensive, while finding both housing and a job in a new country is a challenge. These costs are mitigated however by the flow of information back to the communities from earlier migrants as well as by the existence of social networks of migrants at the place of destination. In other words, the migratory experience of the community (or nearby communities) matters. For a potential migrant, social networks and community migratory experience may be as important in terms of lowering constraints, as the individual s initial stock of human capital. Social capital and local Governance matters for community prosperity, while its effects on individual mobility are less clear. Local governance and social capital are closely related in half of our study communities. Due to the norms and values embedded in the traditional form of local governance in place in Oaxaca, it is not surprising that intra-community trust and expectations of people s willingness to help is higher in Oaxaca. Also, the number of days spent on communal work is higher in Oaxaca than in Yucatan. Qualitative data suggest that partisan conflict in the more orthodox democratic system of local governance in place in Yucatan create rifts in the social fabric of communities there. Trust in and the perceived ability to influence local government were also higher in Oaxaca than in Yucatan and these regional differences are not driven by a few high-scoring communities in Oaxaca or by a few low-scoring communities in Yucatan, but generalizable to the entire sample of 12 study communities. In terms of local government, the findings suggests that not only the system of local governance (Usos y Costumbres vs. orthodox multi-party system), but also the community s administrative level affects perceptions of trust and influence in local government. Communities that were not the municipal center have less trust and a lesser perception of influence than those that were. This finding holds across both regions, and points to governance problems at the sub-municipal level. In terms of individual households, findings show that while the chronic poor have higher levels of trust in fellow villagers than others in both regions, chronic poor also trust other peoples willingness to help more than others in Oaxaca, while the opposite is true for Yucatan. This again, might be a reflection of the values, especially its focus on equality, embedded in Usos y Costumbres. People in Oaxaca who have moved ahead also seem to take a more active part in their communities, while successful members in Yucatan do not. 4

6 I. Background and Methodology A. Background This section gives an overview of the national conditions; public policies and trends in poverty and inequality, as well as of the study methodology including a section on regions, communities and households were sampled. i. National Conditions and Trends About 17 percent of Mexico s population lived in extreme poverty in 2004 using the official poverty line in Mexico. Using the internationally standardized poverty line of one dollar a day (at 1993 purchasing power parity), the World Bank (2004) estimate that 4-9 percent of Mexico s population lived in poverty in This measure is used in countries far poorer than Mexico and represents a deep level of deprivation in a Mexican context. Using the two dollars a day poverty line, about 20 percent of the country s population were poor in Overall, poverty rates recovered to pre crisis levels by Since then, extreme poverty has continued to decrease, despite economic stagnation. In the 1990s, poverty reduction in Mexico has followed macroeconomic cycles and the economic crisis resulted in a massive setback as extreme poverty rising to 37 percent in 1996 from 21 percent at the outset of the crisis in 1994 (World Bank 2004). As recovery kicked in, the extreme poverty rate declined and by 2002 it was back at 20 percent. More recently, there has been a shift in the relationship between macroeconomic trends and poverty reduction: In the period , the extreme poverty rate continued to decline significantly, despite stagnating average incomes, due to income growth in rural areas combined with a decrease in inequality in both rural and urban areas. The extreme poverty rate fell to 17.3 percent in 2004, down from 24.5 percent in Income growth for the rural poor are fuelled by off-farm employment and transfers both private (remittances) and public. In the period , the World Bank identifies two key factors at play in rural areas: First, rural unskilled wages grew by over 20 percent. Second, public transfers from the government programs Procampo and Oportunidades - contributed substantially to the growth in incomes of the rural poor. Procampo is an agricultural subsidy while Oportunidades is a conditional cash transfer program. This trend was reinforced by large flows of remittances to rural areas. Finally, inequality rose sharply in rural areas throughout the last half of the 1990s, followed by a slight decrease in Box 1: National Key Informants: Poverty Reduction and Public Policies in Mexico Informants highlighted how poverty reduction in the 1990s was characterized by economic crisis and recovery. The macroeconomic stability that Mexico has enjoyed since recovering from the 1994 crisis was seen across the board as the most important support for recovery and poverty reduction in the country. Slowing growth since 2000 and the failure of NAFTA and economic liberalization to deliver growth as promised was seen as a key obstacle to further progress. Several positive trends were identified as having affected public policies to combat poverty over the past 15 years. The removal of regressive subsidies that began under President Salinas ( ), coupled with improved targeting of social policy interventions by the following administration of President Zedillo 5

7 ( ), made for an increasingly progressive social spending in Mexico. In addition to the removal of regressive subsidies, programs aiming at universal access (e.g. basic education, public health programs and water supply) naturally became more progressive as coverage expanded and reached the poorer segments of the population. All key informants pointed to the pivotal role of Progresa (now Oportunidades) both in changing the nature of social policies in Mexico and as an effective intervention per se. The 1994 crisis, which revealed severe gaps in the country s social protection system, spurred the creation Progresa - a targeted, conditional cash-transfer program. It has since become a flagship social assistance program emulated worldwide. Informants also noted how the program moved the focus of social assistance interventions from the community to the individual, and from infrastructure to human capital development (education, health, nutrition). Not only inventive in its design, the program was subjected to external, independent evaluations. This helped address long-standing problems of paternalism and clientelism of social programs, by introducing and formalizing the monitoring and evaluation of social assistance programs. Increasingly progressive social spending, reduced paternalism and clientelism of social spending, and better impact evaluation, are trends that have been consolidated and strengthened under the current Fox administration ( ). Growth in social spending has also been kept up despite stagnating economic growth. Most informants commended this administration above all for strengthening and expanding Progresa, which was renamed Oportunidades and for bringing continuity to sound social policy changes of the former administration and continuing the focus on monitoring and evaluation of programs. Finally, migration and remittances was mentioned as an increasingly important factor in the past ten years. US migration is a very tangible option for the poor, sometimes the only, and the rapid growth in remittances from the US in the past ten years has had great effects, especially on incomes in poor, rural areas. Source: Key informant interviews conducted with representatives from national academia, government and the private sector for this study (see Methodology Annex) Ethnicity matters in the generation and reproduction of poverty and inequality and income levels fall as concentration of indigenous in a community increases. Ramirez (2006) combines census data and survey data to compare average monthly income per person according to the concentration of indigenous population in municipalities. His study shows that income levels fall as the concentration of indigenous population in a municipality increases: In 2002, an individual in a municipality where more than 40 percent of the population is indigenous had an income equivalent to only 26 percent of that of a person in a non-indigenous municipality. Furthermore, while only 15 percent of the population in non-indigenous municipalities was extremely poor (using the official poverty line), the share of the population living in extreme poverty rose to 69 percent in municipalities where more than 40 percent of the population was indigenous. Indigenous groups also typically suffer higher levels of deprivation in terms access to basic services as well as education and health status (World Bank 2004, UNDP 2005, Ramirez 2006). Figure 1 shows poverty rates in indigenous and non-indigenous municipalities. Fig. 1: Poverty Rates in Indigenous and Non-indigenous Municipalities, Poverty Rates (percentage) Indigenous Non indigenous 6 0 Poor Extremely Poor

8 Source: Ramirez (2006) Indigenous municipalities here refers to municipalities where more than 40 percent of the population is indigenous Welfare indicators (access to basic services, health and education) point to advances for the indigenous over the past 15 years, especially in terms of primary education where there has been a noticeable narrowing of the school enrollment gap between indigenous and nonindigenous populations. Quality of both health services and education however remains a concern: indigenous schools systematically scores lower on standardized tests indicating problems of educational quality. Poverty is no only higher, deeper and more severe in indigenous communities, but poverty rates are falling more slowly than in non-indigenous communities which has lead to a widening of the income gap between indigenous and non-indigenous. Due to slower income growth for indigenous groups, the poverty gap between indigenous and non-indigenous increased in the period The remainder of this section reports findings from Ramirez (2006) unless otherwise stated. As shown below (Figure 2), the incidence of extreme poverty in predominantly indigenous municipalities fell from 71 percent in 1992 to 69 percent in Over the same period, extreme poverty in non-indigenous municipalities was reduced from 19 percent to 15 percent in This means that in relative terms, poverty fell by only 3 percent for indigenous groups compared to 20 percent for the non-indigenous. As a result, the indigenous/non-indigenous gap widened considerably: In 1992, the incidence of extreme poverty was 4 times higher in indigenous than in non-indigenous municipalities. By 2002, extreme poverty had become 5 times higher in indigenous than in non-indigenous municipalities. Fig. 2: Extreme Poverty Rates by Concentration of Indigenous Population, 1992 and Extereme Poverty Rate percent -20 percent Indigenous Non-indigenous Source: Ramirez (2006), ENIGH 1992 and 2002 Indigenous: Municipalities where more than 70 percent of the population is indigenous Non-indigenous: Municipalities where less than 10 percent of the population is indigenous Indigenous poverty trends in the past decade followed as for the population at large macroeconomic cycles, and was marked by crisis and recovery. As a result of the crisis extreme poverty reached 84 percent for indigenous groups. The increase of poverty in nonindigenous municipalities was higher than the increase of indigenous poverty: non-indigenous extreme poverty rose by 56 percent following the crisis, compared to 7 percent for indigenous. This, however, can be explained by the already high levels of indigenous poverty and may also reflect how indigenous incomes depend on local markets that are to some extent isolated from the national economy. 7

9 Indigenous people systematically score lower on other indicators of economic and social wellbeing, including health, ownership of physical assets, coverage of public social protection programs and access to basic services. The indigenous have poorer health indicators and less access to health care and social protection programs such as pensions and health insurance. Public social insurance programs in Mexico are intrinsically linked to formal labor market participation and as the indigenous population is predominantly employed in the informal sector, coverage remains low. Finally, access to basic services and physical living conditions are systematically worse in indigenous households than non-indigenous ones, while indigenous own less physical assets such as houses, cars and computers. Ranking Mexican municipalities by their Human Development Index (HDI), the UNDP finds a clear inverse relationship between percentage of indigenous population and human development: The less indigenous the population in a municipality is, the higher is its HDI (UNDP 2005). Despite important progress in terms of closing the gap in education, indigenous communities are still lagging. In terms of educational attainment, the indigenous population is catching up, but still lagging. Non-indigenous youth (ages 7-14) have 8 percent more years of schooling than indigenous youth; however the differential grows with age as indigenous children drop out of school at an earlier age. The indigenous/non-indigenous differential is maintained even among the poor: the non-indigenous poor have between 1-2 years more schooling on average than indigenous poor. 1 Figure 3 shows how the education gap has closed over the past decades, as the percentage of indigenous men who have completed primary school rose from 0 percent for the generation born in 1933 to 56 percent for the generation born in There is still a considerable education gap, especially for indigenous women: Of the 1972 cohort, only 16 percent of the indigenous completed primary school compared to 81 percent for the nonindigenous. Using the 2000 Census, The World Bank (2004) shows that enrollment levels beyond primary school falls dramatically for indigenous groups, with enrollment rates of only 35 percent in lower secondary for indigenous groups compared to 60 percent nationally. Fig. 3: Percent of Population with Primary School Completed, by Year of Birth and Gender % 80 81% 65% 67% 60 56% 60 47% 43% % % % 2% Born 1933 Born 1957 Born 1972 Born 1933 Born 1957 Born 1972 Non-indigenous males Indigenous males Source: Garcia and Patrinos, (forthcoming), based on ENEZI 1997 Non-indigenous females Indigenous females ii. Key Policies Related to Growth, Ethnicity and Poverty Reduction While few large-scale social programs explicitly target the indigenous, the recent increase in poverty-targeted social spending, especially following the introduction and expansion of the 1 Based on estimates of mean years of schooling for the adult population (15 years and older) 8

10 program Oportunidades, benefits indigenous peoples who are over-represented in the poorer strata of the population. Oportunidades in particular has a heavy presence among the indigenous. Nearly 70 percent of the poorest quintile in indigenous municipalities receives Oportunidades, compared to only 42 percent in non-indigenous ones (see table 1). Another program introduced in the past 15 years Procampo is also reaching the indigenous and coverage is consistently higher in indigenous municipalities. Other general assistance from across ministries also reaches indigenous municipalities. These include programs focused on nutrition and food consumption (Diconsa and Liconsa), scholarship programs beyond Oportunidades (Conafe), public works program (PET), and the government program for local development (Microregiones), to name but a few. Table 1: Coverage of Oportunidades and Procampo across Population Groups, 2002 Percent of population that receives indicated support Income Quintile Program Oportunidades: All people Indigenous municipality Non-indigenous municipality Program Procampo, All people Indigenous municipality Non-indigenous municipality Source: Ramirez (2006), ENIGH 2002 Indigenous municipality refers to municipalities where more than 70 percent of the population is indigenous In education, there is a program of bilingual education, which has been developed for indigenous schools. The Ministry of Education offers a bilingual curriculum, and distributes books and learning material in 33 indigenous languages to students and bilingual teachers. In addition, the telesecundaria 2 is an important component of the educational infrastructure in indigenous communities and key in delivering lower-secondary education to remote areas in Mexico. In terms of programs and assistance directly targeting indigenous peoples, the National Council for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) coordinates three key programs: (i) Programa de Infraestructura Básica which invests in potable water, electricity and roads in indigenous communities; (ii) Albergues Escolares Indígenas, which offers temporary food and housing for children that travel from remote areas to centers of education; and (iii) Fondos Regionales Indígenas, which offers financial and technical support to groups of indigenous producers and artisans/handcrafters. A new policy initiation for the poorest municipalities in Mexico is also set to benefit indigenous peoples. Following a recent publication by the UNDP that ranked municipalities in Mexico by their Human Development Index, a special program is being designed to assist the 50 municipalities with the lowest HDI index in the country percent of the population in these 50 municipalities is indigenous. The program will increase both the magnitude and the 2 A distance learning mode, which consists of lectures delivered via satellite TV. Distance secondary schools have one teacher per grade to facilitate lectures, assist students with their schoolwork, and answer questions. 9

11 coordination of federal assistance to the municipalities, with an aim to: create productive activities locally and assist in the commercialization of these; improve housing conditions; reduce illiteracy and increase access to and quality of education; increase the coverage of services in health and nutrition; and improve basic infrastructure (CDI 2005). Box 2: Key National Informants: Public Policy and Mechanisms for Upward Mobility Informants first pointed to the pitfall of viewing poverty among the indigenous as something special or different than poverty tout court, above all when thinking in terms of public policy. As mechanisms of mobility were believed to be the same for indigenous and non-indigenous effective policies are also the same. One informant noted that people have many identities, and being indigenous is only one of many. As such, focusing on this one identity may result in a narrow, one-dimensional view. Others emphasized the need to provide the indigenous with the right to be different, however these views were followed by a stress on the importance of choice and freedom, and the need to provide tangible, and equal opportunities. Says one informant: As for all poor, our goal should be to increase options and the ability to choose. There must be choices and options, not restrictions. The Zapatista uprising in Chiapas in 1994 was seen as an important turning point for public policies, as it placed the question of indigenous poverty on the table for national debate. According to one key informant is also affected public opinion by giving every Mexican a reminder that we live in a poor country. Concrete areas where interventions should be prioritized were: bilingual education, access to economic markets, support for productive activities, and health, in particular maternal and infantile health. It was noted that indigenous communities have poor health indicators - abysmal ones for maternal health. Lacking access to credit and capital was also noted and the need to bring formal financial systems to lower income strata and to create a popular savings sector. One informant referred to the ongoing democratization of the financial sector however all noted that advances in this area have been modest to date. Important actors are Bansefi (National Savings and Financial Services bank) and micro-finance companies such as Compartamos. Most informants felt that formal mechanisms out of poverty is lacking in Mexico today. While Oportunidades has been an effective program with tangible results in health, nutrition and education, youth are left with few options once they graduate from the program. That the poor often perceive few legitimate ways to improve their conditions is a key problem. One reaction especially for youth with a strong will to move ahead is to engage in unlawful activities, such as petty crime or illegal migration. Increasing migration to the US was seen as clear sign of lacking mechanisms for upward mobility within the country. Commenting on the phenomenon of Mexican women crossing the border to give birth so that their child gains American citizenship, one key informant says: Many Mexicans seem to feel that the best inheritance they can leave their children is a foreign nationality and with it, the opportunity to leave the country. All informants mentioned education as the most important formal mechanism for upward mobility, however many questioned the quality of the current public education system. One informant pointed to continued problems of corporatism that have contributed to a public education system flawed to a degree where it performs poorly as a mechanism of upward mobility. Poor quality of education, especially for the indigenous, was seen as a key obstacle and a key area for policy interventions in the future. Finally, it was noted that indigenous poverty is closely linked to spatial aspects of poverty and therefore intertwined with the bigger question of what to do with the poor Southern states? Increased regional inequality and the slow poverty reduction in indigenous and/or marginalized areas was a concern raised by all, and many mentioned the need to improve regional development plans. States such as Oaxaca and Chiapas with large indigenous populations and disperse settlements in remote and marginalized areas need to be given more attention. Source: Key informant interviews with representatives from national academia, government and the private sector 10

12 iii. Differences between Policymakers and Community Timelines National key informants highlighted macroeconomic stability, improved social spending, the launch of a new and innovative poverty reduction program, Oportunidades (formerly Progresa) and migration as the key events to have affected poverty trends in Mexico over the past ten years (see box 1 and 2 above). At the same time many noted that formal or legal mechanisms for upward mobility were scarce or lacking in today s Mexico. Local perspectives in the 12 study communities, as outlined in community timelines, seem to confirm the overall idea of increased social spending. This is noted above all in the rate of improvement in social infrastructure such as schools and health centers. As shown in the table below, 10 out of 12 communities had seen the addition of schools or other educational facilities over the past 15 years. The two communities that didn t list improved educational infrastructure as a key event still noted improved access to schools. This was due to the building of a new road in the case of Concepcion Carrizal, and due to the relocation of the community next to the main road in the case of Yosoyuxi. Both communities are located in Oaxaca. Likewise, health centers were built in 8 out of 12 communities. These additions to the communities social infrastructure may have been linked to the introduction of the program Oportunidades, which is given contingent on the existence of schools and health centers nearby. The program Oportunidades benefit families in all 12 study communities and was invariably noted as a key event by all. Table 2: Social Infrastructure Improvements in Study Communities School built in the past 15 years Health Center built in the past 15 years Water and sanitation improvements Yucatan communities 6 out of 6 4 out of 6 3 out of 6 Oaxacan communities 4 out of 6 4 out of 6 4 out of 6 All communities 10 out of 12 8 out of 12 7 out of 12 Macroeconomic stability is obviously a less tangent concept and not easily recorded as a single event in community timelines. However, the macroeconomic crisis of did not show up as a major issue in any of the focus group discussions either. This may simply be a reflection of the economic isolation of indigenous communities, which depend on highly local markets. Regional differences are however noticeable as structural reform in the 1990s affected communities in Yucatan more severely. Here, the restructuring of agricultural credit and subsidies in effect pushed communities from subsidized agricultural production on communal lands (ejidos), to a situation where the majority of community members were forced to migrate to urban centers in search of jobs in construction, domestic services or other service industries. The impact of this shift is further discussed in section II. Migration was as noted by key informants a significant trend, especially in Oaxacan communities, and showed up as such in community timelines, focus group discussion and individual interviews. It is clearly the most widespread mechanism of upward mobility in this state. In the Yucatan, migration to the US is only just beginning but is clearly a budding trend, which many identified as the way ahead in the future. While key informants recognized the pivotal role of education as a mechanism of upward mobility they had doubts about the educational system and the quality of education in indigenous areas. The communities themselves showed no doubt in education, and were across the board extremely positive in their evaluation of schooling as a way ahead. Complaints of continued lack of access were raised, in particular at the level beyond lower-secondary schooling (secundaria). 11

13 Despite this, communities and key informants in the communities did not doubt education as a mechanism for upward ability if available. B. Methodology This section explains and discusses sampling framework, data collection tools and poverty and mobility measures used for this study. i. Sampling Framework The indigenous population in Mexico is estimated at 12.7 million by the National Population Council (CONAPO) who defines as indigenous any individual who speaks an indigenous language or who belongs to an indigenous ethnic group. 3 Other estimates based on language show that about 11 percent of Mexico s population lives in households where the head of the household speaks an indigenous language. The indigenous population is highly diverse and there are 62 different indigenous language groups. Geographically, the indigenous population is concentrated in the South, and the states Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Veracruz and Yucatán account for over 60 percent of indigenous language speakers. The most important ethnic groups are the Náhuatl, Maya, Zapoteco, Mixteco, Otomí and Tzotzil (INI 2002). This report is based on fieldwork carried out in 12 indigenous communities in Yucatán and Oaxaca and the majority of the communities surveyed belonged to one of the main ethnic groups. Our community sample includes: six Mayan communities, two Zapotec communities, two Mixtec communities, and two Triqui communities located in a predominantly Mixtec municipality. The Triqui is a minority ethnic group in Oaxaca. Study Regions The 12 study communities are located in two Southern states - Yucatán and Oaxaca. Yucatán and Oaxaca have the highest percentages of indigenous population of all Mexican states: In Yucatán, 59 percent of the population is indigenous, and in Oaxaca 48 percent of the population is indigenous (INI, CONAPO and UNDP, 2002). Together, the two states account for one-fourth of the country s indigenous population. Both states have a high presence of indigenous populations, and they are both located in the poorer Southern region of the country. Yet, Oaxaca and Yucatán differ greatly, first and foremost in terms of the local economy, economic growth and income levels. Yucatán has higher levels of income, has experienced high growth in the past ten years and has a more modern economic structure. Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in Mexico and has had lower growth than the national average in the past ten years. Indigenous municipalities in Oaxaca operate under their own traditional system of local elections and government (Usos y Costumbres), which in many ways contrasts the orthodox democratic system that governs municipalities in Yucatán. For a more in-dept discussion of the local government system in Oaxaca see box 22 in Chapter 5. Infrastructure, ethnic composition, and topography also differ. Finally, social development indicators vary greatly between the two states, as shown in the example of access to education and health in the table below (table 3). Yucatán ranks 19th out of a total of 32 Mexican states in terms of its Human Development Index, while Oaxaca ranks 31st, with only Chiapas having a lower score (UNDP 2003). 3 CONAPO website, 12

14 Economy Local government and institutions Location, topography, and infrastructure Table 3: Study Regions A Comparative Framework YUCATÁN OAXACA Per capita income above regional average, and economic growth above national average. economic growth rates Orthodox democratic institutions, electoral system and party politics Easy access everywhere: Yucatán is flat and has a highly developed transportation network Ethnic Homogenous indigenous population composition (Mayan) Social and Education: 11 percent of the adult human population has no formal education, development while 16 percent finished high school. indicators* About 15 percent of adult women is illiterate Health: 43 percent of the population did not have access to health services in 2000 *Census 2000 (INEGI website) One of the lowest per capita income in Mexico and low/ stagnating rates of An institutionalized form of indigenous self-government, usos y costumbres: nonpartisan and based on collective decision making (majority vote) Difficult access to remote areas where most predominantly indigenous communities are located, due to extremely difficult topography and low quality infrastructure Heterogeneous indigenous population: 26 different indigenous languages spoken Education: More than 20 percent of the adult population has no formal education, while about 10 percent finished high school. 27 percent of adult women is illiterate Health: 71 percent of the population did not have access to health services in 2000 The Mexican economy has undergone great structural changes in the past twenty years due to increased economic liberalization and a growing insertion into the world economy, a process that intensified with the signing of the free trade agreement NAFTA in These structural changes played out differently across states and regions. Economic liberalization spurred growth mainly in the Northern states, in particular in those located on the US border. However, a few states in the South also experienced an economic boost. In 2003, Yucatán had the second highest concentration of maquila employment of a non-us border state (Aroca et al. 2005). Together with Puebla, Yucatán is the only state in the South with significant employment in manufacturing for exports. In 2004, per capita income in Yucatán at USD 5,229 was about twice the level of Oaxaca at USD 2,641. Both state averages are below the national average of USD 6,419 (Bancomer 2005). There are also major differences between the two states in terms of the shares of the active labor force employed in different economic sectors. In 2004, in Oaxaca, 40.5 percent of the working population was employed in agriculture and other primary activities, compared to only 12.7 percent in Yucatán (Table 4). Employment in agriculture in Yucatán is below the national average. Furthermore, 21.1 percent of Yucatán s labor force was employed in manufacturing almost twice as much as in Oaxaca and above the national average. Employment in commerce, hotels and restaurants, as well as services, was also higher in Yucatán than in Oaxaca. 13

15 Table 4: GDP Per Capita and Employment Across Economic Sectors, 2004 Sectors of economic activity, percentage of active labor force employed in: Agriculture and Manu- Construction Commerce, Communication Public Services other primary sectors facturing restaurants and hotels and transport Sector Mexico 16.2% 17.0% 6.2% 25.0% 4.6% 4.4% 25.4% Yucatán 12.7% 21.1% 6.3% 23.5% 4.7% 4.9% 26.4% Oaxaca 40.5% 11.9% 6.1% 18.6% 2.5% 3.5% 16.6% Source: Bancomer (2005), based on INEGI Economic expansion has consistently been lower in the Southern region than all other regions. However, Yucatán is a Southern exception. In terms of economic growth in the period , we see that Oaxaca has consistently experienced lower growth rates than both national averages and Yucatán (see Fig. 4). The average growth rate for Yucatán over this period ( ) was 3.75 percent, slightly above the national average of 3.17 percent, while Oaxaca experienced an average growth rate over the same period of only 1.63 percent. 10 Fig. 4: Annual Growth Rates: Yucatán, Oaxaca and National, Yucatan Oaxaca National Source: Bancomer (2005), based on INEGI Study Communities The 12 study communities are located in predominantly indigenous municipalities, that is, municipalities where more than 70 percent of the population is indigenous. There are 481 such municipalities in Mexico and they together account for more than 60 percent of the entire indigenous population. Over two-thirds of these municipalities are located in Yucatán and Oaxaca. Key characteristics of indigenous municipalities are that they are small in size and located in rural, often remote, areas. The municipalities in the sample were selected based on growth in income in the time period , measured as change in the share of the population that has an income of more than two minimum wages. Indigenous municipalities in Yucatán and Oaxaca were ranked, based on this measure of economic progress, and 10 communities were selected from top of the ranking in each state. In addition, 2 communities were selected from the bottom half of the ranking. The final selection is shown in table 5 below. 14

16 YUCATAN OAXACA State average Study Community State average Study Community Human Development Index Table 5: Study Communities Income per capita (2000) Progress Marginalization Income rank rank Language/ ethnicity Indigenous ,870 Med. indigenous ,447 Out of 82: Scarsely indigenous ,908 Sahcaba , Mayan Santa Rosa , Mayan Chan Chochola , Mayan Sanahcat , Mayan Quintana Roo , Mayan San Simon , Mayan Indigenous Med. indigenous Out of 246: Scarsely indigenous San Pablo Macuiltiangui Zapotec Abejones Zapotec Concepcion Carrizal Triqui Yosoyuxi Triqui Guadalupe de Morelos Mixtec San Mateo Peñasco Mixtec Sources: CONAPO (2005), Indice de Marginacion Indigenous: more than 70 percent of the population is indigenous; Med. Indigenous: more than 40 but less than 70 percent of the population is indigenous; Scarcely indigenous: less than 10 percent of the population is indigenous Study Households Finally, households in each community were selected for the household survey, which leads to a sample size of 350 households. We also over-sampled successful households, as we want to assure enough information about a particular group of households, i.e. those that were perceived by the community as having moved out of poverty in the past 10 years. Table 6: All households and Sample Households, by Transition Group and Poverty Status [fill in] All households ranked Household survey sample Number Percentage Number Percentage Never Poor (non-poor 1995, non-poor 2005) Fallers (non-poor 1995, poor 2005) Movers (poor 1995, non-poor 2005) Chronic poor (poor 1995, poor 2000) Poor Non-poor Total Source: MOP Mexico ii. Data Collection Tools and Methods The report is based on fieldwork that combined both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data comes from existing national-level data sets, as well as a household survey conducted in 12 indigenous communities in two different regions of the country (Oaxaca and Yucatán). The qualitative methods gathered evidence from the same 12 communities. Both types of data are described in this section. 15

17 Following the methodological approach proposed by the Moving out of Poverty team, data collection methods for the Mexico Country Study include an integrated package of quantitative and qualitative instruments. The primary tools are household and community questionnaires, focus groups discussions, open-ended household interviews, and key informant interviews with policymakers and community leaders (these tools are also outlined in the annex). A household survey was conducted with households in each community, based on a prototype questionnaire adapted to the local context and existing data sets in Mexico. The questionnaires will collect information on demographic factors, asset ownership, sources of income, access to credit, access to employment opportunities, access to services such as education and health, memberships in groups and networks (social capital), empowerment and political participation, access to information, exposure to crime and violence, and aspirations. To complement the household questionnaire and existing quantitative data sets, a range of qualitative instruments were used to gather primary data on the mechanisms that support or obstruct people moving out of poverty. Consequently, the fieldwork involved open-ended discussions designed to understand perceptions at both the household and community levels of mobility, freedom, power, democracy and aspirations, and how these are linked to escaping poverty and to chronic poverty. The key qualitative tools used in the Mexico Country Study include: (i) key informant interviews; (ii) focus group discussions; and (iii) open-ended interviews with individual households (life stories). 16

18 Table 7: Data Collection Tools Data Collection Method Types of Informants Total Number of Informants Key Informant Interview or a Workshop: National Timeline Academics (2), Civil Society (1), Government officials (2) 5 Community Profile Community authorities, members of local government 12 Key Informant Interview: Community Timeline Community authorities, members of local government 13 Focus Group Discussion: Ladder of Life 12 Focus groups with men 12 Focus groups with women 24 Focus Group Discussion: Freedom, Power, Democracy and Local Governance 12 Focus groups with men 12 Focus groups with women 24 Focus Group Discussion: The Aspirations of Youth 12 Focus groups with young men 12 Focus groups with young women 24 Two Mini Case Studies: Community-Wide Events and Factors Affecting Mobility Interviews with key informants 10 Household Questionnaire households per community 344 Open-Ended Interview: Individual Life Stories 12 persons per community 144 iii. Poverty and Mobility Measures The study works around data limitations (lack of panel data) by using people s recollection of a household s status in earlier time periods and will be based on perceptions of status (rank) today and recall of status ten years ago, as given by the community and the households themselves. The transition category of a given household in study communities is identified and verified based on the following: Status and change in a household s position based on the raw ranks assigned to a household today and 10 years ago by community members in Focus Group Discussions. Male and female focus groups rank about households in each community Status and change in the household s position based on self-assessment and the raw ranks assigned by the respondent himself/herself today and 10 years ago in a household questionnaire (30 households in each community). 17

19 The status and change assigned to the household by the community (focus groups) is also discussed and verified in open-ended interviews with a smaller sample of households (12 in each community). Following this verification of assigned status, these interviews focus on the how s and why s behind the assigned status, i.e. how and why - in their own opinion the household became better off in the past ten years, or alternatively, how and why it didn t. As mentioned above, the households are then classified into four transition categories depending on their mobility trajectories over a ten-year period: (i) the always or chronic poor, (ii) the never poor; (iii) those who fall into poverty (fallers); and (iv) those that move out of poverty (movers). The status and rank of households are based on people s subjective perceptions of what determines a household s wellbeing, and no attempt was made to standardize or in any other way direct how people defined levels of wellbeing. The categories were then drawn based on local people s definition of what constitutes poverty in their community, using this to draw a community poverty line. Two things are important to note. First, this poverty line measures relative poverty, as local people were comparing households within their communities only. Second, the poverty rate that we get using the Community Poverty Line differ, sometimes substantially, from the poverty rate we would get using a standardized measure such as the official Mexican poverty line. It follows that when a household is referred to as never poor or having moved out of poverty, it does not necessarily mean that the household is no longer poor according to more conventional ways of measuring poverty. In the household survey, information regarding income and consumption were gathered for Together with Mexico s official poverty lines, official income measures of poverty were calculated for the year In other words, we were able to establish both subjective and objective measures of two groups poor and non-poor for Doing this we are able to show the significant differences that may occur between subjective and official measures of poverty. For instance, local people in San Simon said that almost 70 percent of households in their community have moved out of what is perceived as poverty within their community, and that only about 30 percent remain poor today. Official measures of income poverty, however, show that about 90 percent of households in San Simon still live in extreme poverty. Table 8 below compares the community s perception, the individual s perception and objective income measures of poverty status. The overall poverty rate based on the community s perception was 31.5 percent, compared to 30.7 percent based on individual perceptions and 35.4 based on income measures of extreme poverty. While these rates do not differ all that much, internal differences are important. For instance, out of the 237 households considered non-poor by their communities, 104 or 43 percent actually self-identified as poor. Furthermore, 126 or 53 percent of the households considered non-poor by the community have an income lower than the official extreme poverty line for rural areas. Likewise, out of the 109 households considered poor by the community, only 46 or 42 percent self-identified as poor, while 69 or 63 percent had incomes below the extreme poverty line. 18

20 Table 8: Communal and Individual Perceptions of poverty, and Income Poverty, 2005 Community's perception of poverty Focus Group Discussions Nonpoor Poor Individual perception of poverty Household Survey Income measure of extreme poverty Household Survey Non-poor Poor Total Non-poor Poor Total % 43.9% 100.0% 46.8% 53.2% 100.0% 67.9% 69.3% 68.5% 73.5% 64.6% 68.5% % 42.2% 100.0% 36.7% 63.3% 100.0% 32.1% 30.7% 31.5% 26.5% 35.4% 31.5% Total 56.7% 43.4% 100.0% 43.6% 56.4% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: MOP Household Survey Note: Within each square, the first row of percentages summarizes horizontally, while the second row of percentages summarizes vertically When comparing community poverty lines with the communities perception of where the official poverty line was drawn, another set of differences appear (see table 9). The step of the ladder of life where the focus groups no longer considered people poor differed in almost all cases from the step where the same focus groups placed the official poverty line. However, few patterns emerge between states or according to gender in terms of whether the community poverty line was placed above or below the official poverty line. In the two unsuccessful communities who were noticeably poorer, both men and women placed the official poverty line above their own definition of a poverty line. Using local perceptions of poverty then, will lead to a lower number of poor than if the official poverty line was used. Again, the Ladder of Life exercise essentially asked local people to classify levels of wellbeing and poverty within their community, i.e. a relative measure of poverty, and this result is therefore not surprising in very poor communities. Table 9: Was the Community Poverty Line above, the same or below Official Poverty Line? Women's FGD Men's FGD Above Same Below Above Same Below Oaxaca Yucatan All poorest communities Successful communities Source: Focus Group Discussion, Ladder of Life Having looked at the different poverty and mobility measures used in the study, the next section discusses people s perceptions of prosperity and mobility and how they explained trends in both over the past ten years. 19

21 II. People s Perceptions of Community Prosperity and Household Mobility This section looks at people s perceptions of community prosperity and household mobility in the 12 study communities. The chapter first discusses the peoples perceptions of prosperity and mobility in their communities, based on the classification of households carried out by community members in the ladder of life exercise. To set these findings into context, section B then looks at general trends in the sources of livelihoods in the communities over the past ten years, as perceived by local people. A third section discusses factors identified by local people as having helped or hindered community prosperity the most in the past ten years. Finally, section D examines people s perceptions of the different levels of wellbeing within their communities, as well as the factors that determine household mobility between these levels. A. Perceptions of Community Prosperity and Household Mobility As shown in Table 10, there were marked differences between communities in Yucatán and Oaxaca in terms of how they viewed changes in community prosperity over the past ten years. When we asked focus groups of men and women in each of the communities, all groups in Oaxaca felt that their communities were more prosperous today than ten years ago. In Yucatán however, half the groups felt their communities were worse off, a feeling that was shared across nearly all male focus groups discussions. Communities in Oaxaca also generally viewed their future more optimistically than did communities in Yucatán. Yucatán has experienced higher growth rates than the national average in the past ten to fifteen years. Oaxaca on the other hand, is one of Mexico s poorest states and has experienced low and stagnating growth rates in the past decade. At first, then, this finding is surprising. However, migration - both nationally and to the US - plays a major role in the study communities in Oaxaca and has brought with it significant changes in the prosperity of communities and households. In addition, farmers in the communities in Yucatán lost steady employment in the ejido, which provided them with both a daily salary and benefits such as social security. This clearly affected how people in Yucatán assessed changes in prosperity over the past ten years and there was a shared feeling of lost economic security, especially among men. 20

22 Table 10: People s Perceptions of Prosperity in the Past Ten Years and Aspirations for the Future YUCATÁN Compared to ten years ago, this community is: OAXACA Male Female Total Male Female Total TOTAL 1. More prosperous 17% 83% 50% 100% 100% 100% 75% 2. The same Less prosperous 83% 17% 50% % Ten years from now, this community will be: 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 1. More prosperous 60% 83% 73% 100% 100% 100% 87% 2. The same 20% 17% 18% % 3. Less prosperous 20% - 9% % 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: 24 Focus Groups Discussions with men and women A key part of the study the Ladder of Life - is based on local people s ranking of households in their community according to level of wellbeing, today and ten years ago (see Methodology Annex for more information). Table xx shows the distribution across 4 transition groups in our 12 study communities, using the rank and category assigned to households by the communities they live in and based on subjective poverty lines drawn by focus group participants. On average, about 80 households were discussed and assigned to a transition group by local people in each community. In the smaller communities, all households in the community were ranked in this fashion. What stands out is firstly the small number of fallers, i.e. people who were not poor in 1995 but that became poor over the past ten years. There are two main reasons for this. First, few households in these communities were not poor in 1995, overall about 17 percent. Second, in a context of general progress, stagnation rather than downward movement will characterize households under stress or subject to negative shocks. A review of open-ended interviews with households who were deemed chronic poor and who remained at the same level of wellbeing over the past ten years, commonly revealed factors associated with downward mobility, such as an illness, a disability or other shocks. In the further use of quantitative data in this report, we will drop the category faller due to the small number of observations. As shown in the table 11, aggregate estimates show that 34.2 percent of households ranked by communities in the Ladder of Life exercise were perceived to have moved out of poverty over the past ten years, while 42 percent remained in poverty. 24 percent of the households ranked were seen as being non-poor in both 1995 and Coupled with the fact that almost no households fell into poverty, the poverty rate (based on people s perceptions or relative poverty in their communities) was nearly halved in the past ten years as it decreased from 83.4 in 1995, to only 42.6 percent in

23 Table 11: Aggregated Averages for all Communities, Transitions Groups All households ranked Number Percentage Never Poor (non-poor 1995, non-poor 2005) Fallers (non-poor 1995, poor 2005) Movers (poor 1995, non-poor 2005) Chronic poor (poor 1995, poor 2000) Poor Poor Source: Focus group Discussion, Ladder of Life Fig. 5 shows transition groups, as defined by focus groups in each individual community. These are calculated as an average of the results from male and female focus group discussions. The first 6 communities from the left are from Oaxaca, and the last 6 communities are from Yucatan. The figure also gives the percentage of movers in each community. It shows that on average, a higher share of households moved out of poverty in communities in Oaxaca the low growth study region than in communities in Yucatan. There is a positive relationship between a community s number of initially poor households and its number of movers which is not surprising given that a community with more poor in 1995 also had more potential movers in For instance, Yosoyuxi in Oaxaca has the highest number of movers (76 percent) and the second highest number of initially poor (91 percent). Sanahcat in Yucatan on the other hand has the lowest number of both movers (6 percent) and initially poor households (42 percent). More formally, a look at correlations show that as the percentage of the population that is chronic poor increases across communities the fraction of those poor able to cross the CPL increases (Correlation -0.86, R-squared =.64). Fig. 5: Transition Groups Across Communities Never poor Chronic poor Fallers Movers Guadalupe Abejones San Pedro Macuiltianguis Carrizal Yosoyuxi Sanahcat Santa Rosa Chan Chochola Sahcaba Quintana Roo San Simon Table 11 shows the average size of transition groups and poor households in the two study regions. Due to a higher number of movers in Oaxaca coupled with very few fallers in both regions, the number of households in poverty in Oaxaca went from being 13 percentage points higher than Yucatan in 1995, to being 12 percentage points lower in In other words, while 22

24 mobility seems high in Mexico when compared to other study countries, the story coming out of Oaxaca is even more impressive: 50 percent of households were perceived to have moved out of poverty over the past ten years, resulting in the community s poverty rate falling from 85 percent to 36 percent. Table 11: Study Region Averages, Transition Groups and Poverty Study Region Averages Oaxaca Yucatan Never Poor (non-poor 1995, non-poor 2005) 14.4% 31.3% Fallers (non-poor 1995, poor 2005) 0.3% 0.7% Movers (poor 1995, non-poor 2005) 50.0% 20.9% Chronic poor (poor 1995, poor 2000) 35.3% 47.1% Poor % 68.0% Poor % 47.8% In order to compare mobility patterns across communities, a series of summary statistics were calculated for each. Table 12 shows averages of these statistics for study communities. The Net Prosperity Index tells us that on average, for every 2 households moving down on the Ladder of Life, 8 moved up. The index for churning, shows that 60% of the population has moved up or down at least one step in the last 10 years. As already mentioned, 40% of the poor were able to climb out of poverty while 41% of people were poor 10 years ago and remain poor today. This is uniquely high when compared to other countries in the Moving out of Poverty study. It is however important to note that the majority of communities included in the Mexico study were sampled based on a particularly high growth in incomes over the past ten years. Table 12: Summary Indices for Selected Communities Index (see Appendix) Mean Median Net Prosperity (risers fallers)/total Churning (risers + fallers)/total Moving Out of Poverty Movers / initially poor Net Prosperity of the Poor (poor risers poor fallers)/initially poor Net Prosperity of the Rich (rich risers rich fallers)/initially rich The above shows not only high levels of upward mobility and movements out of poverty but also higher mobility at the lower (poorer) tail of the welfare distribution than in the upper tail. Net Prosperity Index of Poor, tells us that for every 2 poor households that moved down, 9 moved up, while the net Prosperity Index of Rich, shows that for every rich household that moved down, 2 moved up. Also, as Net Prosperity rises across communities, the Net Prosperity of the Poor (Correlation.92, R-squared =.65) and the Moving Out of Poverty (Correlation.53, R-squared =.39) indices rise as well. The below table provides the ranking of communities for a selected number of indices. Communities are ranked from 1-12 based on information from the female focus groups, 1 being the highest, and from 1 to 10 based on information from the male focus groups. Again the data indicates stronger perceptions of mobility in Oaxaca, especially in terms of movements out of poverty. As mentioned earlier and as will be discussed in more detail below, while Oaxaca as a 23

25 region offers less economic opportunity, US migration plays a pivotal role in Oaxaca, and provides a fast way ahead for a great number of households. Table 13: Mobility Indices by Community Oaxaca 'low' growth Prosperity Index [risers/total] Net Prosperity Index [(risers-fallers)/total] Source: Focus Group Discussions, Ladder of Life MOP Index [movers/initially poor] Mobility of the Poor [initially poor risers/ initially poor] Shared Mobility Index [mobility of poor - mobilty of non-poor] COMMUNITY Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Carrizal 2 na. 2 na. 5 na. 1 na. 9 na. Yosoyuxi 3 na. 3 na. 2 na. 4 na. 10 na. Guadalupe Macuiltianguis Abejones San Pedro San Simon Sahcaba Quintana Chan Chochola Santa Rosa Sanahcat B. Processes behind Community Prosperity and Community Mobility Profiles How people view changes in livelihoods and inequality in the past ten years can help put the above analysis of mobility profiles and indices into context. Coupled with a look at events deemed particularly important for community prosperity over the past ten years, this section also begins to explain why regional differences play out differently than one might expect. In other words, it may shed further light on why perceptions of prosperity and mobility are so much stronger in communities located in the poorer, low growth region Oaxaca. i. Changes in Sources of Livelihoods in the Past Ten Years In the 5 successful communities in Oaxaca, both men and women noted how people are forced to leave their communities due to the lack of jobs and economic opportunity. Agriculture has traditionally been the main source of livelihood, however today this activity consists mainly of subsistence farming. Remittances are rapidly replacing agriculture as the main source of income in all communities, as more and more people migrate to find jobs elsewhere in Mexico or in the US. Women in Abejones describe how this trend has changed their community in the past ten years: The husbands always go to the US to work in the harvests there. Earlier they did not leave, or only to go to other states in Mexico, but now they are going to the United State (woman, 42). Here there is no longer anyone who works in agriculture, everybody leaves to the North [the US], (woman, 35). The 5 communities are at different stages of US migration. Macuiltiangius has experienced mass migration to the US for the past twenty years while the two Triqui communities - Carrizal and Yosoyuxi - are only now beginning to experience international migration. In Abejones and Guadalupe de Morelos, mass-migration occurred over the past ten years. A more detailed review of the migratory experience of communities in Oaxaca, and how the effects of migration evolve over time, will be given in chapter 3. Local people felt that the main reason for out migration was the lack of economic opportunity and that their local sources of employment and livelihood (agriculture) are poor and insecure. Says a woman (42) from Abejones: Sometimes the harvest does not turn out well, there is no rain, and 24

26 men do better if they go to work in the United States. A woman (31) from Carrizal agrees: There are no jobs here, they [the migrants] leave to get some money, the lands are not fertile and we don t have enough food during the year. In Yosoyuxi, migration was also seen as having replaced agriculture as the most important economic activity in the past ten year: As one man (61) says: Most of us leave the community to work to Culiacán, Ensenada, and the United States. It is difficult to go over there [the US] but it is better because there is more money there. Here we have nothing. The difference in wages between Mexico and the US was noted in all communities, as stated by a man (55) from Carrizal: Over there [in the US], they earn well, not like here. People in Guadalupe de Morelos felt the US is their only option, a necessity, if you want to move ahead: They [the migrants] are forced to migrate; it is not out of free will (woman, 49). If you want to get anything here in life, you have to leave (man, 43). Even in Macuiltianguis, the only community in Oaxaca that offers sources of employment beyond the traditional agricultural activity, people complained about the lack of jobs. The community owns a sawmill located in the community itself as well as a factory in Tuxtepec: Here there are no factories to work in, and in Tuxtepec they are already saturated with people. Here there is nothing to work in (man, 70). One woman (39) explains why her husband was forced to leave for the US, even though he held a job at the communal enterprise: My husband had to migrate to the US. Earlier he worked in the forestry enterprise and he did the work that the ejido authorities assigned to him, but the children keep growing and their needs increase, and this forced him to leave. Only by leaving the community could he save more and send money so that we can build a bigger house. By working here you can t do that because what you earn is minimal. Finally, education is another reason why people migrate. Community members with higher education have to leave their communities to find appropriate employment. In such cases, people migrate mainly to other Mexican cities, be it Oaxaca City or Mexico City. As one man (33) from Macuiltianguis says: You finish your education, but here they can t find a job and they can t maintain themselves and they have to move to the city. In the five successful communities in Yucatán, agriculture still remains a key source of income. However, as witnessed in Oaxaca, more and more people leave their communities to find employment. Important structural changes occurred in all 5 communities in the past 20 years as a result of the slow down in henequen 4 production as state-owned enterprises finally buckled under the falling world prices for the commodity. These companies employed ejido members in the study communities, who used to receive a daily salary as well as social security coverage. When the companies closed down, the national agricultural bank Banrural filled the void until the early 1990s. Following this, farming became a more insecure source of income and more and more people moved or began commuting to nearby cities such as Cancun and Merida. Also, in the late 1990s, Yucatán attracted export-oriented textile factories (maquiladoras), which offered another source of employment for people willing to commute. As in Oaxaca, it is the lack of economic opportunity within the communities themselves that forces people to leave. Says a young woman (31) from Quintana Roo: Those that leave the community are forced to leave because there are no jobs here. She continues: There are no 4 The henequen plant is an agave used to produce a fiber suitable for rope or twine. It was known as the green gold (oro verde) in Yucatan due to the wealth is lavished upon hacienda owners during the boom years in the early 1900s, however from the 1920s onwards, market prices and demand for henequen began to fall due to new entrants into the global market and synthetic substitutes (nylon), In 1993, after three decades of massive subsidies to support a collapsing industry, the Mexican government withdrew support. This left 38,000 farmers and workers most of them Mayan without a job. 25

27 jobs here. And the government only helps with Procampo and Oportunidades for economic improvement. They don t provide us with other jobs. Focus group participants in other communities repeated this general story, exemplified in this statement from a woman (38) in Chan Cochola: There are no jobs here, the majority of the people go to Merida (woman, 38). People in Quintana Roo noted that while agriculture remains an important economic activity, there are more and better job opportunities in Cancun or Merida. There are no sources of steady jobs but if you leave the community to try your luck in places such as Merida and Cancun, things improve a little as there are more diverse employment opportunities there (man 60). Many commented on the differences in the wages you can earn in the city compared to in the community: Says one man (46) from Chan Chochola: The people who leave the community to work can earn up to 140 pesos a day (man 46). Another man (50) adds: Here there is never enough money, only a few times can you earn about 80 pesos a day in agriculture. Men in Santa Rosa focused on the lack of credit and support for agriculture, which has made this a less viable income source. The lack of money has not allowed people to dedicate themselves to agriculture and it has made people leave their community to look for work (man, 39). Women in Santa Rosa discussed the shift away from henequen production in more detail noting that ten years ago almost everyone worked in henequen. They remember the closing of the henequen production as a time of crisis for the community. Some got pensions and others got a severance pay however not all: Many were left out and have no support and some of them are now 60 years old. They had to go to Merida to work in construction (woman, 52). They also noted that age is an obstacle to accessing opportunities outside the community, as many employers, above all the textile factories, do not hire people above 40 years of age. If you were younger you could work in whatever (woman, 52). Other obstacles to finding a job outside the community mentioned in this and other communities were lacking education and the cost of commuting (bus fares and food expenses). Box 3 shows how people in Sanahcat experienced these changes in the past ten years. Box 3: Changes in Livelihoods in the Past Ten Years as Experiences by People in Sanahcat The story told by people in Sanahcat exemplifies the general changes that occurred in the study communities in Yucatán. Locals estimate that people began leaving in larger numbers in the early 1990s following the fall in henequen production and the end of steady employment in the ejido. Today, only farmers and housewives stay behind. Now, people leave the community to find jobs in construction, agriculture, to sell firewood or to work as an agricultural day laborer. Many go to Merida to work. The only ones that stay are the ones who work in the milpa and the women in their houses (man, 50). There are those that leave to work in Merida. There are more that leave now than ten years ago (woman 39). When we ask men in the community how many have jobs outside the village, their estimates ran from just about everyone to about one third. They all agree however that the numbers have increased greatly in the past ten years. People in Sanahcat identify the lack of employment, and end of henequen in particular, as the key detonator of current trends towards urbanization and commuting to nearby cities. One man (50) says: 15 years ago, henequen was the only livelihood here. When this ended, many people went to other places to look for jobs. The henequen crisis made people leave for Merida and Cancun (man, 41). Women in the community echoed these views, as this woman (49): The men leave because there are no jobs here. Earlier we made our living in henequen. People also note that farming has become less productive in the past years, which forces men to look for work elsewhere: They leave because many of them work in agriculture and there are no harvests any longer (woman 49). The women did not distinguish between men that engage in short-term migration to nearby cities and return every weekend, and those that bring their family and move permanently. They also note that often it is just 26

28 a question of time before one leads to the other. Many commute daily and women have also started to work in the city. A woman (56) tells us her experience: I am a single mother with 2 daughters and I go to Merida Monday through Saturday to work (woman 56). They all agree that those that find a job outside the community and outside agriculture are a little better off. Those who leave have a little more than those who stay (woman 49). There are people who stay in the village and they earn nothing. Others leave daily (woman, 37). Source: Focus group discussions with men and women in Sanahcat While US migration was not widespread in any of the study communities we visited in Yucatán, it is clearly an emerging option. Says one man (50) from Quintana Roo: There is still not much migration to the US here. We are not like Centillo which has already established contacts over there (man, 50). It is important to note that Quintana Roo is located between Tunkas and Cenotillo two of the top-ranked municipalities in Yucatán in terms of level of US migration. The signal effects from neighboring communities were evident, as local people know that wealthier households there derive their income from US migration and remittances. Returning migrants is another source of information. A member of the municipal presidency tells us that: The number of people leaving for the US is increasing as people get more information from those that already left. Younger community members already see international migration as one of their best options: Now, the US is our source of employment (woman, 27). Isolated cases of US migration were referred to also in Sanahcat and it was noticed how households with US migrants were already relatively better off. Says a man (40) from Sanahcat: Those that work in the US live better. Adds another man (63) Those that go to the US are the smart ones and we are the doomed ones (man 63). Interestingly, US migration has also begun from the poorest community in Yucatán, San Simon, where the first four migrants left for the US 3 years ago. At the same time, very few people commute to nearby cities, a strategy so common in successful communities. The latter can be explained by the community s location too far from Merida for a daily commute. Signal effects from other communities within the same municipality also play a role as US migration has been on the rise here for the past ten years. The general lack of economic opportunity within the community itself described in both Yucatán and Oaxaca, also characterizes the two non-successful communities in our sample. A key difference however is the smaller numbers of people from these communities that are able to leave. The obstacles faced by individuals in these two communities were higher mainly due to low levels of human capital (education and language skills) and a lack of information. In the poorest community in Oaxaca, San Pedro el Alto, people tell us their main source of income is weaving hats of palm. A man tells us that no matter how able of a weaver you are, one person can produce maximum 3 hats in a day. By weaving 2 or 3 hats a day they earn about 6 or 7 pesos less than a dollar a day and not enough to live on. The income from the sombreros is small and not enough to eat well (woman, 49), Households also farm for self-consumption, however the land is arid and there is no irrigation so harvests are temporal. Also here, people are being forced to leave, however leaving the community to work is a recent phenomenon and few venture beyond the municipal center and the regional head town, Tlaxiaco. 2 years ago people began to leave to work close to San Mateo or Tlaxiaco. They have a little more money, but not much - about 20 or 30 pesos a day. If they work in construction they can earn more but it is difficult to get jobs because not everyone speaks Spanish (woman, 40). Two years ago people began to go to other communities to look for work. They leave out of necessity and also because more people can speak Spanish now (woman, 40). The men confirm that leaving the community to work is a recent phenomenon: There are no employment opportunities. People are just now beginning to come from outside the community to offer temporal jobs (man, 33). It was also noted by women 27

29 that speaking Spanish is the determining factor for who leaves and who doesn t. Says one woman (40): If people don t speak Spanish, they are too scared to leave the village In the poorest community in Yucatán, San Simon, agriculture remains the main activity and there are no other sources of income in the village itself. Says one woman (46) Here there are no jobs. Here there are only farmers. We are poor and it is a small village. Here there are no people with money that will pay you to work. A young woman (29) sums up the general view of people in her community when she says: Here, people have very few opportunities to make money (woman, 29). Families in San Simon grow mainly corn and sometimes beans, and most of it is for self-consumption. Men insisted on the low returns to farming which they link back to the lack of irrigation systems and bad weather which leads to poor or lost harvests. Says one man (40) The last couple of years have been total losses [ ] If it is not because of a draught, it s a cyclone or a hurricane. Another man (34) adds: Many of these crops are temporal. We need water in order to obtain a full-year production. People in San Simon noted that sources of livelihoods have changed in the past ten years, mainly because people now leave the community to work: Now people leave for Uxmal and Merida. Before people did not leave (woman, 46). When they leave, people from San Simon work in different activities, however it is all unskilled work. Says one man: Today, men here are construction workers or gardeners at the hotels. Earlier we were just corn farmers (man, 40). Other men commented that men from San Simon only work as helpers to construction workers, and that very few work as actual construction workers. The women noted that lack of skills and experience outside of agriculture is a key obstacle. Says one woman (57): They don t know any other type of work, this is what they know how to do, although some work as helpers on construction sites. Adds another (42): We won t prosper unless we work outside agriculture, and as we are farmers we don t know how to do anything else. ii. Changes in Inequality in the Past Ten Years Section A showed that upward mobility was seen as far more common across communities than downward mobility albeit to a varying degree. This section asks how this progress was distributed. Did inequality increase or decrease in the past ten years? From the comparison of indices measuring mobility among poorer households (see table 13), we noted that Oaxaca generally scored higher than Yucatan. A look at what people expressed in focus group discussions brings a more nuanced view. In successful communities in Oaxaca, where the number of people who leave the community for the US has increased rapidly in the past ten years, community members in general felt that inequality in their communities has increased. Women in Guadalupe de Morelos said that the gap between the top and bottom steps has increased because those at the top have a little more today than they did ten years ago. They felt this was mainly because members of households at the top have spent more time working in the US. Both men and women related increased inequality back to migration: As one man from Guadalupe (43) notes: Only after people began leaving for the US did we begin to have things such as the rich, the poor and the half-rich. Participants in Focus Groups Discussions held in other communities in Oaxaca also felt that inequality has increased in the past ten years due to US migration. The general pattern described is one of moving from a situation where everyone is poor to a situation where some have a little more than others. For instance, women in Abejones noted how those who migrate are able to have nicer thing, things that weren t seen in the village ten years ago. Says one woman (48): Now one can see better things in the community such as houses or cars. Men in Carrizal felt inequality has increased because people today have more opportunity and money, while ten years ago we all were the same, we were all poor (man, 37). 28

30 The women in Carrizal described a slightly different situation. Increased community union and the fact that people now help each other more, together with improved access to electricity and a highway, have led to more equality and less differences between families. Yet even in this group a woman (39) note the differences created by migration: Ten years ago, people felt more equal economically because there was not that much migration. Everybody lived in similar conditions Interestingly, Macuiltianguis the village with the longest experience with mass migration to the US show a different pattern. Here, both men and women felt that the gap between the better off and the worst off has decreased in the past ten years. Men said this was because today more people have the same opportunities to move ahead and to move out the poverty. Women agreed and explained that ten years ago only a few had become better off, while most people were still poor. Says one woman from Macuiltianguis: Inequality was stronger ten years ago because there were just a few people who lived well and everybody else were very poor. In Macuiltianguis, living well was linked to US migration also ten years ago. As will be discussed further in chapter 3, other studies on migration in Mexico have shown that international remittances tend to initially increase inequality within communities, however this negative effect is reduced as more and more people migrate. Also, the poverty reduction effect of remittances increases as the intensity of migration in a community increases. A first look at people s perceptions of inequality in Macuiltianguis and other Oaxacan communities seems to confirm this. Macuiltianguis also ranks among the top 1 or 2 communities in terms of shared growth indices (see table 13). People in successful communities in Yucatán were more split in terms of how they viewed changes in inequality over the past ten years. Many felt inequality has increased, mainly because more people leave the community to work. Women in Quintana Roo explain: Now there are more rich people as people are getting education, they leave the community or they get jobs in government (woman, 44). The men in this community agreed, saying that while many of the poorest live in the same conditions as ten years ago, those who live best live better. Women in Sanahcat see the same thing happening in their community: there are more people at the upper levels today and the upper levels are higher in terms of wellbeing. One woman also noted that a strong generational shift had taken place in the past ten years which has caused differences to grow Because now there are more youth who leave the community to work, people when they get married have less children and they can have a little more (woman, 37). Increased generational differences were noted in many communities as people felt older adults have a harder time finding jobs outside their communities: They have less formal education and in addition, some employers operate with upper age limit and will not hire anyone above 40 years of age. Men from Sahcaba felt that everybody are generally better off today, however they are no longer equals due to levels of education and types of jobs you can get: We all have improved but we don t live in the same conditions (man, 62). People in Santa Rosa also feel that there are more differences between people today. Says one woman (32): Earlier it wasn t noticeable. There weren t a lot of differences between people, but now you can notice it a little bit. There are some who dress and eat better. Others felt that the differences were too small to talk about: The difference is small because most people are poor (woman, 46). The men in this community felt the gap between the top and bottom has stayed the same, and blames this on the lack of jobs. Women in Chan Chochola also say that those who leave earn a little more than people used to ten years ago, however they feel that due to the cost of transportation and living expenses in the cities, there is no difference in the end. They conclude that the gap has not changed. The men in Chan Chochola felt inequality has diminished because there is no longer anyone who receives a steady salary from the ejido. Says one man (48): The 29

31 communal land ended, and the former president Carlos Salinas gave a symbolic severance pay. Before this there were a few jobs with weekly or biweekly salaries, but now there is no support. In Sahcaba, women noted that differences between families have fallen, mainly because of a federal housing project after Hurricane Isidoro, which benefited many families who used to live in poor housing. In the non-successful communities in both states, focus groups concluded that there was little inequality to talk about. Says one woman (40) from San Pedro el Alto, Oaxaca: There is no economic inequality. Here everyone is poor. Some women still felt that inequality had increased over the last ten years, because more people are leaving the community to work. Says a young woman (28) Those that leave change. Another woman (35) adds: The only differences there are, are between those that sell hats and those that sometimes leave the community to work. The weaving of hats is the traditional economic activity in the community. Some of the difference manifests itself in how people dress, especially in those that return form the US: There is some differences between the people today because ten years ago everybody dressed the same (woman, 42). One woman (37) however noted that at the same time the poorest in the community live better today: The poor are better than before, few continue to live in palm houses and they now wear shoes. The picture painted in San Simon, Yucatán, was similar, but more static. The women didn t like to talk about differences but in the end agreed that the gap has grown slightly It has increased [the gap] but only a little bit. Here we are all equal (woman, 39). They insisted, however that these differences are not very noticeable. People at the top of the ladder are those who own small grocery stores according to the women, however these are few, and they don t earn much more money than others in the community. The men felt that nothing has changed as everybody is poor and has always been poor in their community. A woman (53) sums up the general feeling in the community this way: Here, we are all equal: we are all poor. Table 14: People s Perceptions of Changes in Inequality in the Past Ten Years YUCATÁN OAXACA TOTAL Male Female Total Male Female Total Over the past ten years, the gap between the top and the bottom step has: 1. Increased 33% 67% 50% 83% 67% 75% 63% 2. Stayed the same 50% 17% 33% % 3. Decreased 17% 17% 17% 17% 33% 25% 21% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% iii. What Helped and Hindered Community Prosperity in the Past Ten Years Focus groups in all communities were asked to debate which factors have helped and hindered community prosperity the most over the past ten years and the below table (table 9) summarizes the conclusions from these discussions. Overall, improved access to and support for education was perceived by people as one of the most positive events of the past ten years. Migration was clearly seen as one of the factors that have affected communities in Oaxaca the most, having had both positive and negative effects. In addition, infrastructure was seen as an important help for community prosperity when improved, and as an important hindrance when not. The importance given to infrastructure relates back to the difficult topography of the state and the remote location of many of the communities. Communities in Yucatán also mentioned lacking infrastructure as a 30

32 hindrance. Yucatán is prone to hurricanes and hurricane Isidoro (2002) was listed by most groups as one of the most damaging events in the past ten years. Table 15: Local People s Perceptions of Factors behind Changes in Community Prosperity over the Past 10 years, Successful Communities All Oaxaca Yucatán Positive factors and events Negative factors and events The government s cash transfer program Oportunidades Improved educational opportunity (both in terms of facilities and attitudes ) Improved infrastructure Migration Natural disasters (hurricanes) Lack of economic opportunity and employment Lacking infrastructure and basic services Improved infrastructure Migration Social unity and the local government model Usos y Costumbres Improved educational opportunity Lacking basic services and infrastructure Migration Language barriers (not speaking Spanish very well) Migration Violence and conflict Source: 20 Ladder of Life Focus Group Discussions Oportunidades Improved educational opportunity The federal Natural Disaster Relief Fund, FONDEN PROCAMPO agricultural subsidy Natural disasters Lack of economic opportunity and employment Lacking infrastructure Local politics and local government Interestingly, local government and social unity came up as a key driver of community prosperity in Oaxaca, while in Yucatán, local politics and political division was seen as something that hindered communities to prosper. As mentioned earlier, the communities in the two states operate under different forms of local government (see box 22 for more information on the system in place in Oaxaca). In Oaxaca, the system of local government Usos y Costumbres is an institution built on and supported by strong (village-based) social capital and communal unity. Local government and officials are seen as positive actors for community prosperity acting with the common good in mind. In Yucatán, party politics frequently leads to political division, which is seen to hamper community prosperity. Issues of local government and social capital are discussed in chapter 5. C. Household Mobility i. Levels of Wellbeing The steps of the Ladder This section looks at characteristics assigned by local people to the different levels of wellbeing in their communities as represented in the Ladder of Life. This was done in the course of 24 focus group discussions held with men and women separately. In each focus group, participants drew a Ladder of Life depicting levels of wellbeing within their communities and the ways households climb and fall (or stagnate) at the different levels. Figure 6 at the end of this chapter, replicates the Ladder of Life drawn in one of the communities in Oaxaca. Looking across the findings from all communities we find many commonalities and some important differences. Households that follow the above-mentioned trends in sources of livelihoods and that engage in new sectors of employment or income generation have higher levels of wellbeing. The strongest employment pattern across ladders in both states is that in households no longer considered poor, one or more family members work outside the community. In Yucatán, people 31

33 commute to nearby cities (Merida and Cancun), to tourist centers (Uxmal and Chichen-itzá) and places where textile factories (maquiladoras) are located. In Oaxaca, working outside the community involves migrating to Mexico City, to agricultural states in Northern Mexico or to the US. This finding concords with the discussions in sources of livelihoods described above. While working outside the community involves a shift from farm of off-farm employment in Yucatán, this switch in sector of economic activity is less pronounced in Oaxaca and overshadowed by national and international migration. Many of those who go to work in Northern Mexico and the US continue working in the agricultural sector. In Oaxaca, type and length of migration affect a family s level of wellbeing: Households with US migrants, legal US migrants and US migrants who have stayed abroad for longer periods of time rank highest on most ladders. For both states, lower levels of wellbeing tend to be associated with a higher dependency on agriculture. Table 16: Perceived Characteristics of Different Levels of Wellbeing, Employment and Income Bottom 2 steps Step where households are no longer considered poor Top 1-2 steps Unemployed or unable to work Farm for own food if able to Head of HH work as agricultural day laborer Head of HH does not migrate Head of HH does not work outside the community Families makes and sell handicrafts Employment and sources of income Head of HH works outside the community in temporary jobs in agriculture and construction, or Head of HH has a steady job with benefits ( teachers, factory workers) Oaxaca: HH members have migrated to Mexico City, Northern Mexico or the US Family still farms for own food and also sell their produce Women contribute economically (make handicrafts, wash clothes or sell tortilla and other food) Yucatán: women may have salaried work Many own small grocery stores and/or raise animals Teachers w/steady salary and benefits Families often have grocery store, bakery or tortilla shops in the community Many still farm on the side or raise and sell animals More than one member of the HH works and wife typically contribute by selling other produce or services Oaxaca: migrants, above all legal US migrants with steady jobs Yucatán: Off-farm employment outside the community, wife may have salaried employment Human capital formal education and language skills was another factor used by local people to describe the different levels of wellbeing within their communities (see table 17). Characteristics of the poorest households include low education levels with poor knowledge of Spanish. Adults in these households often do not know how to read and write and they speak only an indigenous language or speak Spanish very poorly. Poor language skills at the bottom steps are particularly pronounced in the two non-successful communities. It was also more often mentioned in Oaxaca than in Yucatán. At the level where households are no longer considered poor, members of the households are bilingual. In Oaxaca, an interesting phenomenon occurs at the top steps: some adults are trilingual as they speak both English and Spanish in addition to their indigenous language. In terms of formal education, differences are most commonly seen in the younger generations. Few children and youth below the upper levels of wellbeing are able to graduate from high school. Chapter 4 takes a closer look at the how s and why s of education as a mechanism for upward mobility. 32

34 Table 17: Perceived Characteristics of Different Levels of Wellbeing, Language and Education Bottom 2 steps Step where households are Top 1-2 steps no longer considered poor Language In Oaxaca, adults often don t speak Spanish or speak it badly Bilingual Bilingual Education In Yucatán, most speak Spanish, or at least understand it Exception: non-successful community in Yucatán where adults are monolingual and do not speak Spanish Maximum primary school Adults of the households are often illiterate and have no schooling Source: FGD Ladder of Life in 12 communities Parents have primary while children finish secondary Sometimes, children go to high school Migrant head of HH or other members are often trilingual (Indigenous language, Spanish, English) Children finish secondary at least More graduate high school and in some cases continue onto university and college Characteristics related to demographics in particular dependency ratios emerge across all communities (see table 18). Bottom steps contain households made up of elderly and families with many small children. Moving up the ladder, there are fewer children or older children while the head of household is at a working age. Families where the head of the household is a woman, single mothers and widows, are also placed at the bottom of the ladder. Table 18: Perceived Characteristics of Different Levels of Wellbeing, Household Demographics Bottom 2 steps Step above CPL Top 1-2 steps Many children (5-10) Less children than bottom steps, but Fewer children (1-3) more than top ones Elderly Widows or single mothers In some communities, households still have children in school age, while in Disabled others, children are grown and work Source: FGD Ladder of Life in 12 communities Children are grown and often work Oaxaca: One or more family member live and work in the US Finally, households differ in terms of the type and magnitude of support or transfers they receive (see table 19). When the government program Oportunidades is not present at bottom step, it is used as a characteristic of the poorest. In most communities, households at the level where they are no longer considered poor by their community also receive Oportunidades, however only in very few communities do households at top steps. Households at the bottom of the ladder do not have social security coverage, which is only found in households where one or more members have formal employment (located above the community poverty line). In terms of private transfers, one of the key characteristics in many communities of the lowest levels of wellbeing is that they receive no financial support from other family members. Moving up the ladder, support from children becomes more frequent and in Oaxaca in particular, remittances from relatives in other parts of the country or in the US increase. At the top steps, remittances are largely international. Factors related to working outside the community are much more pronounced in successful than non-successful communities. As a result of this, private transfers are not mentioned as a characteristic that affects a household s rank in the poorer communities. 33

35 Table 19: Perceived Characteristics of Different Levels of Wellbeing, Government and other Support Bottom 2 steps Step above CPL Top 1-2 steps Those who own or have access to land receive Procampo Some receive Oportunidades, yet in a few communities, not receiving Oportunidades characterizes the bottom steps (especially if elderly) No social security and no family support May receive help from local government or charity Source: FGD Ladder of Life in 12 communities Oportunidades and Procampo In a few cases, social security Children help out financially Households in Oaxaca begin to receive national and international (US) remittances Those with formal jobs have social security Children help out financially Land owners receive Procampo Only a few receive Oportunidades Households receive more remittances and in Oaxaca these are predominantly from the US In conclusion then, people typically identify households at the bottom steps as working in agriculture, having lower levels of human capital, having higher dependency ratios and receiving less public and private transfers. These perceptions are mirror images of findings from econometric analysis of determinants of poverty in Mexico. Given that the 12 communities are predominantly indigenous, people s perceptions do not capture important differences between indigenous and non-indigenous populations. As discussed in box 4, ethnicity and location are also important determinants of poverty. Box 4: Determinants of Poverty in Mexico Ramirez (2006) uses logistic regression analysis to examine the probability of being poor for the population 18 years and above. The factors that affect the probability according to this analysis can be classified into three groups: (i) factors related to employment; (ii) factors related to education and (iii) factors related to household demographics. The clearest result in terms of factors related to employment, is that the probability of being poor increases when the head of household is employed in the agricultural sector. Farm employment is one of the factors with the greatest negative marginal effect on the probability of being poor. Working in agriculture increases an individual s probability of being extremely poor by 6 percent and moderately poor by 14 percent. On the other hand, off-farm employment, excepting employment in construction, decreases an individual s probability of being poor. Working in service or manufacturing decreases the probability of being moderately poor by 9 and extremely poor by 7 percent. When the head of household is unemployed, the probability of being poor also increases. In terms of education, years of schooling reduces the probability of being poor, have a large impact and reduces the probability of being poor. The regression results show that with an average level of schooling (7,59 years of schooling), the probability of being moderately poor, is reduced by 39 percent and the probability of being extremely poor by 11 percent. An individual living in households with a higher number of dependents will have a higher probability of being poor. The presence of children in particular small children increases the probability of being poor and every additional child below 6 years of age raises the probability of being moderately poor by 20 percent. Presence of adolescence and elderly also affects the probability of being poor positively. The gender of head of households also matters, as the probability of being poor increases if head of HH is a woman. Finally, Ramirez study also shows that factors related to ethnicity and location are strong determinants of poverty: living in an indigenous municipality, and in rural areas increases an individual s probability of being poor. For all factors the probabilities differ between indigenous and non-indigenous. An indigenous individual working in the agricultural sector has a 72 percent probability of being poor, compared to only 34

36 34 percent for a non-indigenous worker in the agricultural sector. At any given level of education, the probability of being poor is higher for indigenous individuals than for non-indigenous. In other words, even with similar education levels, indigenous people have a much higher probability of being poor than do nonindigenous people. Adding to this, the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous probabilities increases with level of education. The probability of an indigenous individual with incomplete secondary schooling being extremely poor is five times higher than for a non-indigenous. It is almost ten times higher with secondary schooling completed. Source: Ramirez (2006) ii. Factors of Mobility Moving Up and Down the Ladder What this study adds to our understanding of poverty is a more in-depth inquiry into the how s and why s of mobility. Having first given their view of the characteristics that define a household s placement on the Ladder of Life, local people discussed how households moved up and down between levels of welfare in the past ten years. Looking across the Ladders of Life drawn in all 12 communities, we asked local people: which factors do local people think are causing households to climb, stagnate or fall? As is to be expected, these factors relate strongly to the different characteristics of the steps as outlined above. Again, key groups of factors include employment, education, life cycle factors or demographics and public and private transfers. In addition, idiosyncratic shocks (illness, old age, etc) and systematic shocks (natural disasters) were seen to cause stagnation and/or downward movement. Annex 1 provides an overview of these factors. Finding employment outside the community help people climb at all levels of the ladder. In Yucatán this typically refers to commuting to nearby towns and cities to find off-farm employment, while in Oaxaca it refers to migration to other parts of Mexico or to the US. In Yucatán, working outside the community is tightly linked with moving from farm to off-farm employment. As such, formal education becomes a key factor as it allows people to employment in sectors other than agriculture. In Oaxaca, finding a job outside the community primarily means migrating, either to Mexico City, Northern Mexico or the US. Across communities in Oaxaca, US migration was seen as key to upward mobility, and the fastest way out of poverty. What people note is that place and length of migration matter as you move further if you go to the US and if you stay longer or make several trips. In communities where US migration is just starting it was noted that only the better off households were able to migrate due to the high costs. In communities where mass migration has been going on for decades, households originally at the bottom of the ladder have also engaged in US migration. In other words, temporal aspects of migration as well as the community s migratory experience are important. Finally, continued US migration was seen as necessary to maintain your place at the top of the ladder. Says one man (47) from Macuiltianguis who identified himself as belonging to the top step: If we don t cross the border, we can t maintain our families at this level (Man, 47, Macuiltianguis). The role of migration will be discussed in more depth in chapter 3. Also related to employment, people move up the ladder as more members of the household join the labor force. Many communities mentioned that when more family members join the work force, the household s welfare increases. One group of women felt that one of the main reasons for stagnation for some households has been that the women don t work (woman, 60, Yosoyuxi). This is echoed in Yucatán where households were seen as being able to move up only If the husband and the wife work. They both have to work (woman, 29, Santa Rosa) 35

37 Education and language skills are perceived as both mechanisms for upward mobility and as a factor that can cause stagnation. At the lower levels of the ladder, lacking knowledge of Spanish is often a key obstacle to upward mobility: There are a few who don t speak Spanish and they can t leave the community to look for better jobs because nobody understand them (Man, 30, Abejones). Women in Abejones also felt that people at the lower levels often are not able to invest in education which then become the major obstacle to moving ahead: Says one woman (32): If we do not invest in the education of our children we can t move ahead This view was echoed in all communities. Women also note that not having received education prevents them in helping their children do well at school: When the children have homework we can t help them because we do not know how to. If we had gone to school it would have been different (woman, 29, Macuiltianguis). While households at the lower levels move ahead by learning Spanish and learning to read and write, households further up on the ladder move ahead by providing their children with higher levels of education. A woman (29) from Macuiltianguis sums the general view up this way: We can move up through our children, the adults who encouraged and supported their children to study already live better because their children now support them. Most communities noted supporting your children beyond lower-secondary schooling is where it gets difficult, mainly due to the lack of schools. Lifecycle factors cause mobility and/or stagnation. Most importantly old age is seen as an impediment to upward mobility or a cause for downward movement. As people grow old they are less able to work, and without any support from younger family members old age pushes households into, or further into, poverty. As a man (63) from Sanahcat puts it: We can t improve because we can t work. Overall, young people are expected to climb the ladder, elderly are expected to fall or stagnate: Here there are people who are just starting their lives and they have the probability of climbing. And the old people of falling (man 39, Santa Rosa) The number and age of children in a household also matter. Having many children is seen as an obstacle to moving ahead not only because it is costly but also because you can t afford to give them all that they need to move ahead, in particular in terms of education. Having many children is sometimes a problem because there is not enough money to give them everything they need (man, 31, Macuiltianguis). When children grow up, finish school and begin to contribute economically, households tend to climb the ladder. If children for some reason do not support their parents, these stagnate or might even fall: If tomorrow none of your children give you anything, how will you be? (woman, 54, Sanahcat). Another man (33) from Santa Rosa notes that having aging parents can be a cause for downward mobility: The obstacles have been [ ] my parents as they are alone and I am the only one providing for them. My father, Eduardo, is 70 years old and my mother, Maria is 64 years old. I think that if they fall ill, at that very moment, I will fall into poverty. Savings, sound investments and accumulation of assets are needed to move ahead and to prevent falls back down: Savings matter, not only as a means of upward mobility but also as a safety net: Those who save are better off, they are safer (woman, 32, Yosoyuxi). Men in Macuiltianguis discussed how people above the community poverty line needed to invest in a house, a car, or a business in order to climb to the next level and to prevent them from falling back down. If people start spending all their money instead of investing it in something, well then it is obvious that they will fall (Man, 33, Macuiltianguis). Savings and investments were typically factors that were at play at the level of the community poverty line and above. Households at lower levels are not able to save. Attitude, hard work and vices (alcohol, drugs, gambling and women) were also commonly mentioned as factors that cause some to rise and others to fall or stagnate. A woman (54) from Santa Rosa felt that the only way to move ahead was to Work more and gather your 36

38 money. Work in whatever comes your way and without any rest. Not even taking the time for a siesta. Other communities and groups agreed: Hard work is the key to move ahead (Man, 32, Macuiltianguis). People who don t study, and who don t work hard, who do not work all day, are going to stay as they are because they are lazy (woman, 37, Macuiltianguis). One group also noted how the poorest sometimes get accustomed to living in poverty and do not show any initiative to move up and out of poverty. There are those who have adapted to a life in poverty (man, 55, Sanahcat). Finally, vices and bad habits are other oft-mentioned causes of downward mobility across all communities. In some communities, quitting drinking was seen as a mechanism for upward mobility. Idiosyncratic shocks above all related to health - together with community-wide shocks such as hurricanes, cause downward movements: In terms of shocks that force people down the ladder or keep them stagnating, none were more often mentioned than illness and health problems: Because of the costs of treatment and medicines, an illness or accident can change a households welfare a lot. Due to costs and not being able to work, everything starts going downhill (woman, 46, Guadalupe de Morelos). Women in Macuiltianguis, Oaxaca agree that the most detrimental shock a family can receive is When the husband falls ill and all the savings and all the money is spent buying medicines (woman, 65, Macuiltianguis). Men in Abejones, Oaxaca also discuss the loss of income, especially if it is the head of the households that falls ill: If the head of the household gets sick it becomes a problem because then there is no one who brings home any money. The women don t work (man, 61). The death of the head of the household also throws people down the ladder: If the head of household dies, at any step you fall in the same way (Woman, 51, Macuiltianguis). Finally natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and droughts hit at all steps of the ladder. Those that depend most on agriculture, i.e. the lower steps, are hurt the most. Speaking of some of the poorest households in her community one woman (44) from Quintana Roo, says: They lose all their money when the rain does not fall. The woman also point out that land is becoming also less fertile which leads to households stagnating as you can t produce more. The land is tired. We work and work but it no longer offers much. While the above findings has been based on people s perceptions as given during focus group discussions, quantitative analysis based on the information gathered in the household survey corroborates some of these. Table 22 gives the results from an OLS regression estimating the effects on total income of individual and occupational characteristics and of transfers in the 12 study communities. In terms of human capital, each year of schooling increases income by 7 percent, while there is no significant effect for work experience. The results for sectors of employment show that being an employer is the factor that affects incomes the most, as witnessed by a 174 percent increase in income. Transfers also significantly increase incomes. Receiving remittances from the US increases income by 96 percent (in other words, having relatives working in the US nearly doubles a family s income). Remittances from within Mexico increase incomes by about 20 percent, while public transfers increase incomes by 32 percent. The sample consists of individuals from two poor low-performing communities. Living in one of these communities reduces incomes by 54 percent. Finally, the state dummy tells us that living in Oaxaca as opposed to Yucatán increases incomes by 13 percent. Again, this result might seem counter-intuitive at first given that Oaxaca is one of the poorer states in Mexico, while incomes and income growth are higher than the national averages in Yucatán. This finding can be assumed to be a result of US migration, which is practically non-existent in the study communities in Yucatán but is widespread in the Oaxacan study communities. 37

39 Table 22: Ordinary Least Squares Regression Results for Total Income Ordinary Least Squares Regression Results for Total Income Estimated effect on the log of the total income (Mincerian Form) Coeff. S.E. % Dummy Average schooling of members 12 and holder 0.07 (0.02)* Experience of the head of the household 0.01 (0.017) Experience square (0.0002) Number of household 0.07 (0.025)* Occupation 1 Worker or day laborer 0.20 (0.152) 20.52% Employer 1.04 (0.25)* % Sector 2 Head of the household works in agriculture 0.07 (0.136) 6.50% Transfers Remittances Mex (=1) 0.19 (0.15) 19.49% Remittances US (=1) 0.69 (0.18)* 96.35% Public Transfer (=1) 0.28 (0.134)** 31.69% Poor community (=1) (0.15)* % Oaxaca 0.14 (0.14) 13.38% Constant 6.36 (0.45)* N 309 R After discussing factors of mobility and stagnation, the focus groups answered a series of questions related to mobility at different levels of the ladder, as we asked: which steps on the ladder are the hardest and the easiest to climb up from? And, which are the easiest and the hardest to fall back down from? Below is a summary of what local people perceived to be the easiest and most difficult step to move out of as well as the easiest and most difficult to fall back down from. It is hardest to move out of the bottom steps of the ladder because (i) households are made up of elderly (or disabled) who receive no support and cant work or families with many small children; (ii) households depend on agriculture which is an insecure source of income; and (iii) because many adults in these households have little education and often a don t speak Spanish. In almost all 24 focus groups that discussed household mobility, the lowest step was seen as the one most difficult to climb out of. Across communities, households made up of poor elderly with no support were located at the bottom step and these were seen as stuck in poverty with no exit. As one elderly man (78) from Quintana Roo put it: In the life of the poor there are no exits. There was overwhelming agreement across communities that poor elderly with no support are the poorest in their communities, and the ones with least opportunity to improve their lot: The people here [at this step] are already old and they have no support. Sometimes they can t even work (woman, 29, Santa Rosa). Because if you are already old and in addition disabled, what can you do? There s no help from government (man, 60, Sanahcat). Men in Quintana Roo also discuss the effect of age on your ability to work: Explains one elderly man (76): When you turn 76 years old the quality of your work is not the same as when you were young. The fact that very few elderly receive any kind of social protection programs, apart from those who benefit from Oportunidades makes it even more likely to fall or get stuck due to old age. In short, there are no pensions for the poor: Here for the elderly, there are no pensions. The only social security you have is six feet under (man, 40, San Simon). In addition to households made up of elderly, young households are also often at the bottom and they have their own set of problems that hinder them in moving ahead: Because they have many children and no work, their only hope to move ahead is if the children are able to help (woman, 33, Chan Chochola). 38

40 Across communities, households at the bottom of the ladder also depend on agriculture to a higher degree than others. This was seen as an insecure source of income that brings back less and less benefit to the families: Women in Quintana Roo think people at the bottom of the ladder face the most obstacles because they are farmers and depend on their harvests which are not sure to succeed (woman, 32) and because the land no longer produces. The corn grows smaller today (woman, 63). In many communities they pointed to lacking education and lacking Spanish skills as key constraints for poorer households. In some communities, above all in the non-successful ones, not speaking Spanish is the key obstacle. In San Pedro el Alto, Oaxaca, the men explain why the lowest level is the hardest to climb out of in this way: They don t know any trade, they don t speak Spanish and they don t leave the community to look for jobs (man, 45, San Pedro el Alto). A group of women from Yucatán first split down the middle when asked which step offered the least opportunity to move ahead: Half the group said that the lowest step was the hardest to climb out of due to obstacles such as having many children and being old, while the other half felt that households are poor because they don t work hard. They said that many families stay at the bottom of the ladder because the husband is lazy and that Those that only scratch their belly won t gain anything (woman 53, Sanahcat). In many communities there were one or two similar comments before discussions centered on what was perceived as true obstacles to the upward mobility of the poorest households. After much debate the women in Sanahcat also agreed on this and that households at the bottom actually do have it tougher because they have a lot of children and when they are little it is difficult to provide for them. Also because they don t have a job and the government does not help them. In addition these people don t go to Merida [to work] (woman, 53, Sanahcat). The steps of the ladder that offer more opportunity for moving ahead were those right above the community poverty line, and in a few cases also the step just below it. Main reasons for this being the easier steps to move up from were: (i) better education and knowledge of Spanish; and (ii) the ability and opportunity to find work outside the community, either by commuting or migrating. Education and job opportunity were seen as tightly linked. In addition, households living above the community poverty line were also seen as having a more secure foundation on which to grow from, mainly due to better, steadier employment. When asked why households at these steps find it easier to climb, one woman answered: Because people look for work outside the community and find secure work that helps them to a have a bit more money (woman, 35, Chan Chochola). In Yucatán, family members of households above the CPL often work in sectors other than agriculture. In some of these sectors, e.g. manufacturing, employment is formal which brings many benefits in addition to the salary. The men in Chan Chochola noted that people with formal employment are given more opportunities, because your employer may offer things such as a small loan. It was then seen as easy to move up the ladder for these households, because the company where they work lends them money to invest in a grocery store or to enable them to continue farming in your free time (man, 30, Chan Chochola). In Santa Rosa, it was not only the fact of having a steady job that helped these households advance, but also not being Catholic which to the men meant that money would be spent more wisely, above all because the men don t drink: They receive a fixed salary, they work in textile factories and they are evangelists. Because of this they use their salaries wisely (man 49, Santa Rosa). In another community it was noted that at this level of the ladder, women begin working alongside their husbands and there are more opportunity for moving ahead: Now that a lot of people leave to work in other places and both the husband as well as the wife work, this is how they can make more money (woman, 54, 39

41 Santa Rosa). Also, children now help out economically: At this level everybody have relatives that leave the community to work. Children grow up and go to Merida. The youth are already looking for their own way ahead and they also help their parents (man 60, Sanahcat). In San Simon, the men also pointed out that at the step just above the CPL there is for the first time the ability to save some of your money. With the savings, the family can invest in something productive, such as animals, which are raised and sold. The men also noted that saving and investing in this way still requires a lot of effort: There are opportunities to save if you limit what you eat in order to feed the pigs instead, (man, 40, San Simon). Oaxaca is slightly different due to the role of migration, above all US migration. In Carrizal, it was also the steps above CPL that offered the most opportunity to move ahead. Both men and women mentioned higher access to education at these levels and also the opportunities offered by US migration. At lower levels it was noticed that kids were pulled out of school earlier to help earn money or work in the fields. Migration and higher levels of education was mentioned across communities as reasons why households at the upper steps have more opportunity to move ahead. In Abejones it was also noted that while members where more likely to go to the US, they were also more likely to stay for longer periods which translates into higher levels of remittances flowing back home. Women in Guadalupe noted that it was difficult to move up from any of the steps without help from migrants. The men agreed and noted that households send migrants to the US from all levels, except the bottom two. Women in Macuiltianguis noted that people at the upper steps earn more because they depend on US migrants. Says one woman (39) at this level: We are better thanks to migration, life is easier, children go to the school and we have more money. In the poorest community in Oaxaca, the main reasons given by local people for why households living above the community poverty line had better opportunity for upward mobility were savings and language skills: It is easier to move ahead when they speak Spanish and save (man, 45, San Pedro el Alto). In general, the top steps were seen as those most difficult to fall down from. The men in Chan Chochola also thought that the step just above the CPL was the hardest to fall back into poverty from as once you have secured a full-time, steady job outside the community you are secure. You have employment and a stable salary. With this nothing bad can happen to you (man 50, Chan Chochola). In general, however, the steps of the ladder from which it is the hardest to fall were the top ones. In Quintana Roo, women pointed to how having a formal, steady job and having your own business secured these households a steady income. In addition, children are grown up and might be helping out economically. When asked why the top steps offered more security, one woman (53) from Sanahcat answered: Because by now they have a stable job, a paycheck every two weeks and the children help out and there are not so many children that need to be supported. Other groups however, felt no step was safer than others because everybody can fall ill, everybody gets old one day and everybody can lose their job (woman, 46, Santa Rosa). No one is safe from what could happen to you. We can all run into problems (man 63, Sanahcat). Despite more security at the top of the ladder, households at all steps are at risk of falling. Interestingly, most FGDs did not point to a step as more vulnerable to downward movement, and concluded that households can fall from any given step. According to local people, no family can be safe from illness, death, abandonment of head of households, vices such as alcohol, and natural disasters. Because all can suffer from a sickness and a hurricane will affect us all equally (woman, 49, Chan Chochola). Old age also inevitable catches up with you and in theory all can fall into the bottom steps, i.e. elderly poor with no support, unless they secure the support of family or employer/government: As everyone grow older each day and children are growing up, we can all fall into this situation [that of the poor elderly] (woman, 54, Santa Rosa). The 40

42 men from Santa Rosa however disagreed noting that shocks such as death and health problems that bring with them expenses are particularly hard on poorer households because they have no extra money to draw on. They gave the example of a death in the family and how many families at the lower steps end up with debts from paying the funeral services. Because of the death of a family member they take on debts in order to hold the service and they don t advance, their situation only gets worse (man, 37, Santa Rosa). Other men added alcoholism to the factors that can strike households at all levels, noting also how factors such as alcoholism and health problems can lead to a depletion of assets as things are sold to face medical bills or to support a vice. Households may fall because of alcoholism and the death or illness of a family member - all of which force people to sell something they own (man, 44, San Pedro el Alto). Box 5. Tells the story of a household stagnated at the bottom of the ladder, and the constraints it faces in terms of health shocks. In 1992, Juan s wellbeing plummeted as he fell ill, and his story illustrates how an illness can spur downward movement. It also shows that once at the bottom, bad health becomes a factor of stagnation and a constraint to upward mobility. Box 5: The Life History of Juan, 50, Santa Rosa, Yucatán Juan fell ill in 1992, which he thinks explains why things have gotten worse for him over the past ten years. His household was classified by focus groups in his community as always poor. The situation of my home and for me personally has worsened because for the past 13 years I have been sick Since that day I only go from the hammock to the chair and from the chair back into the hammock. The illness has made Juan and his wife 100 percent dependent on his children, in particular one son who works in Merida. They receive no support from government or from other members of the community. Occupational History Juan never went to school and began working at a very young age, making charcoal that his father sold. At the age of 14 he began working in the ejido. Everybody worked in henequen and we always had work...you didn t need education, anybody could begin to work there. He thinks this period was a good one because both the work and the salary were steady. We didn t have to worry about anything. We were more or less well off because we received a secure salary and we didn t have to go look for jobs. In 1993, henequen production shut down and he was laid off as everyone else in the village. The problem came when the henequen was over because we were laid off. Some got pensions but I didn t because I was very young and I had only worked there for about 17 years and because of this I didn t receive a pension. Juan instead began cultivating chili habanero. After they laid us off I looked for work cultivating chili habanero because it sold quickly and for a good price With the money they gave in severance pay I bought my water pump, fertilizers and herbicides. I built a well and everything else I needed. My children were little and they worked with me. He received government sponsored training and technical assistance alongside other chili farmers in the community. Then, in 1992, he falls ill and can no longer work. Economic History Economically, Juan felt the safest when he worked in henequen and received a steady salary. However, with his severance pay, he felt he was able to invest for the first time in his life. Only when I got laid off could I buy some things to grow chili habanero. They gave me 4,200 pesos and with this I could buy a few things in order to grow chili habanero. I bought herbicides, fertilizers, water pumps and motorbike that cost me 1,650 pesos and other things. Economically, Juan s situation plummeted when he fell ill, as he could no longer work and was forced to sell all his assets. Everything I had, I sold it at bad prices 13 years ago when I fell ill. I sold the motorbike for 700 pesos and lost almost half of its value. The water pumps had cost me 500 pesos and I sold them for 250 pesos and this way I lost everything because of my illness. Before the illness, Juan was able to save, but now he can t. He has even stopped taking medicines. Earlier, yes I would save and because of this I could buy all of this, but since I got this illness I don t even have enough money for medicines. Because of 41

43 this I don t take any. Since the illness, Juan s children have supported him. My son has been working for 12 years in Merida. He was 15 years old when he left. He is the one that helps me the most even if he has his own family Social, Psychological and Cultural History Juan can t lift one of his arms, his body is weak and he can t stand up on his own. When he fell ill, Juan tells us that the doctors could not tell what was wrong with him. He no longer takes medicines and does not see a doctor: It s been 10 years since I last saw a doctor. Sometimes when I have diarrhea, I don t eat or drink in order not to become worse. I don t go to the hospital because I need someone to help me to stand up Despite his troubles today, Juan feels lucky that he fell ill after his children were already grown up. I thank the Lord that my children were already grown up when I fell ill. Then they began working and they help me because now not even my own father visits me. He tells us that when his mother was still alive, his parents would help him with a little money, but since she died, Juan s father stopped coming to see him. His father receives money both from a pension and from Procampo. When we ask what he would do if he has to face an emergency he answers: If I had a problem now with my children, or if I fell ill, I don t have anywhere to seek support. Only from my children who work, but they have their own children and it would hurt them. Juan says that he receives no support from the government and that they even took Oportunidades away from his daughter in law. He wishes he did receive some support. I have never had any support from the government Only the authorities have helped us sometimes with transportation It would help me if I received some support from the government, but I don t have it. I wish I received something. Juan has talked to and been promised many times, but so far nothing has happened. He also feels there is no support from the community: Here in the community people don t help. The only support available from outside the family has come from the Hotel Hacienda Santa Rosa, which operates several social programs in the community (the old Hacienda located in the village was recently turned into a five-star luxury hotel). Juan tells us how the hotel offers free transportation to people in the village in the case of an illness or emergency a service everybody can access. Earlier we would hire trucks from Santo Domingo to Merida and they charged us 200 pesos. When the hotel came, it helped us because now we have free transportation if someone falls ill. Whether it is day or night there are always cars available and they don t choose between people. Juan finishes his interview by emphasizing that until he fell ill, he had a good life and few worries, especially when working in henequen: As I already told you, earlier things were good and I was always doing well. I had no problems and I didn t worry about anything until I fell ill 13 years ago and now every day I am worse. He also feels that he needs help in order to improve his situation, and that so far all he has received are promises. If the people who come to see me really helped me I think I would have been better off, but until now it has only been promises and I don t think I can get back up on my own. Without his children s help, especially from the son who works in Merida, he would have nothing. Before ending the interview, Juan thanks the interviewer for the visit and notes that he often gets lonely: Only when someone like you comes by do I get a little distracted because I get to talk. I tell you about my problems. When there s no one here I feel bad. Source: Life History: Open-ended Interview iii. Economic Activity: Regional and Gender Differences While people s opinions as expressed in focus group discussion seem to distinguish in general between work within the community and work outside the community, Tables 21a and 21b show the multiplicity of income-generating activities. Table 21a reveals that, among those who work, agriculture remains the most important sector/occupation (35 percent), followed by unskilled labor in the private sector (mainly construction and domestic services), and handicraft 42

44 Looking production (12 percent). While 66 percent of men in the 12 study communities work, only 28 percent of women do. Men work primarily in agriculture (46 percent) and unskilled labor (14 percent), while 27 percent of working women engage in handicraft production. Table 21b shows, in addition, the activities of people who reported that they did not work. Twelve percent of the women who reported not working, in fact make and/or sell products, while 15 percent of men who do not work labored on the family farm or raised animals. Table 21a: Economic Activity in 12 Indigenous Communities in Oaxaca and Yucatán Men Women All Worked last week If yes, in which sector/occupation Agriculture Fisheries Handicraft production Industrial production Commerce Private Sector, unskilled work Private Sector, skilled work Public Sector, unskilled work Public Sector, skilled work Other Not specified Total Table 21b: Economic Activity in 12 Indigenous Communities in Oaxaca and Yucatán Men Women All Did not work last week If you didn't work last week, did you: Help in family business Sell a product Make a product to sell Help on the farm or in raising animals Get paid to do some other activity Not work Not specified Total Source: Moving Out of Poverty Household Survey 2005, Mexico Country Study Population 12 years and older Looking at regional differences in occupational patterns, Table 22 shows that, while the proportion of people who work is similar across both regions (with only a slightly higher rate in Yucatán), the activities in which men and women work differ substantially. The majority of men in Oaxaca (50 percent) work in agriculture, while men in Yucatán have a higher participation rate in waged work in the public and private sectors (32 percent compared with 12 percent in Oaxaca). Furthermore, 10 percent of men in Oaxaca engage in handicraft production whereas not even 1 percent of men in Yucatán do. These numbers reflect the differences in regional economic opportunity, as Yucatan offer more opportunity to engage in waged work, due to its urban centers and tourist sites. 43

45 Table 22: Economic Activity by State Oaxaca Yucatan Male Female All Male Female All Worked last week If yes, in which sector/occupation Agriculture Fisheries Handicraft production Industrial production Commerce Private Sector, unskilled work Private Sector, skilled work Public Sector, unskilled work Public Sector, skilled work Other Not specified Total Source: Moving Out of Poverty Household Survey 2005, Mexico Country Study Population 12 years and older What is even more striking however is how the economic activities of women differ across regions (Figure 11). Women in Oaxaca engage above all in activities linked to the home such as agriculture and handicraft production, while a significant proportion of women in Yucatán work in waged employment in both the private and public sectors. See, for instance, the difference between the proportions of women engaged in unskilled work in the private sector between the two areas percent in Yucatán compared with 1.3 percent in Oaxaca. This again reflects the employment opportunities available in nearby cities for instance in domestic services as well as in export-oriented textile factories (maquiladoras). It also reflects the different strategies for upward mobility and how they differ in respect to gender. Commuting to nearby cities in the case of Yucatan is an accessible mechanism for women, whereas migrating, often as far as to the US as they do in Oaxaca, is still not as easy for women. Clearly, however, the most important economic activity for women in both states is handicraft production, which occupies nearly 40 percent of all working women in Oaxaca and 19 percent of women in Yucatán Figure 11: Female Participation Rates across Economic Activities, Oaxaca and Yucatán Agriculture 19.2 Handicraft production Commerce Private Sector, unskilled work Private Sector, skilled work Public Sector, unskilled work Oaxaca Yucatan Source: MOP Household Survey 2005, Mexico Country Study Population 12 years and older 44

46 Fig. 6: Ladder of Life, Men FGD, Guadalupe de Morelos (Oaxaca) Upward movement Household Characteristics Downward movement You have to work night and day and save to maintain yourself at this level Very few move higher than this Only by working night and day and saving Successful business or store By sending more migrants to the US By receiving more money from current US migrants Hard work Money sent from migrants in the US (without this you will probably stagnate at this level) Money sent from relatives working in other parts of Mexico can also help Saving With help from the community (i.e. coladas to build your house) Hard work Sons or other relatives that help (in part. Migrants) By saving With help from the community (i.e. coladas to build your house) Hard work Find a job outside the community Sell or rent a piece of land If sons or other relatives help (in particular those that migrate) You can stagnate here without the help form migrants Work outside the community With a lot of effort Charity or help from the community: the men say they would never let a fellow citizen live in such conditions today 7. The richest in the community Often returned or retired migrants that came back from the US with large dollar savings Very nice houses, sometimes two floors and nicely decorated on the outside Own trucks, tractors and other equipment Have their own businesses Employ other people in the village 6. Families semi-permanently in the US Head of household or entire family lives in the US but return from time to time Brick houses sometimes with two floors, often left empty for months at a time as family live in California [These households are still viewed as part of the community and share the same obligations as other villagers (tequio, cargo etc.)] 5. Families w/ US migrants Living conditions are more or less the same as the step below Often able to start a business or a small shop with the remittances they receive Once the children finish school they head for the US 4. No longer poor Families begin constructing brick houses Own land Can afford to rent more land than they own Receive Procampo for the land they own Some family members have worked or are working in Mexico City or in the Northern states of Mexico 3. Moderate poor Houses are still made of adobe Have access to land they can cultivate but lack equipment Main source of income is agriculture 2. The poorest today Do not leave the community to work Often elderly If not elderly, then probably lazy They have a house They have sufficient to eat They eat mainly tortilla 1. The poorest ten years ago Bad housing if any House made out of card board or palm Not enough food and no corn Eat principally flour tortillas and root vegetables Start drinking If they give up the struggle (si dejan de luchar) Sickness Death of head of household Start drinking If they give up the struggle Sickness US migrants stop sending money or send smaller amounts, less frequently (happens when kids start their own families) US migrants return Sickness If relatives in other parts of Mexico stop sending money Lack of water (irrigation) Illness If children abandon their parents when they grow up Or if children go to study and not to work Lack of water (irrigation) Illness Today, this is as bad as it gets in the community you can t become worse off You can t fall further down as no one even lives like this any longer CP OPL 45