Friday, July 11, 2025

Political group says poor have been hit hardest by Covid, lack of support

The coronavirus pandemic and the lack of government support to mitigate its economic impact have significantly increased inequality in Mexico, according to a recently formed political organization.

Sí por México, a group of citizens and organizations opposed to the federal government, conducted an analysis using data from the national statistics institute Inegi that found that the gap between the salaries received by the country’s best and worst paid workers almost doubled between March and September.

The incomes of the lowest-paid quintile fell 44% in that period while the earnings of the best-paid 20% only declined by 8%, Sí por México said.

“This means that the distance between the two groups almost doubled,” the organization said, noting that workers in the top quintile earned on average 15 times more than the poorest 20% in March but almost 30 times more in September.

Sí por México said it was regrettable that the federal government didn’t provide more support for small and medium-sized businesses – assistance has been limited to small loans – amid the sharp coronavirus-induced economic downturn. There has been less government support in Mexico than in any other Latin American country with the exception of Nicaragua, the organization said.

Data compiled by the statistics portal Statista shows Mexico had only spent 0.7% of GDP on support for people and businesses struggling financially due to the pandemic as of last October. In contrast, Canada spent 16%, the U.S. 13.2%, Brazil 12% and Argentina 6%.

Miguel Székely, director of the Center for Educational and Social Studies, a think tank, said that the increased inequality precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic is a consequence of the lack of a safety net for the nation’s poorest.

“What we’re seeing now in Mexico is that those who are lowest on the salary scale are those who suffer the most because they’re the one who are fired,” he said.

Székely said that Mexico’s poorest have run out of any savings they might have had and have already pawned all they could pawn.

“They’re hitting rock bottom,” he said, adding that the situation has the potential to cause “social tension.”

Székely condemned the government for not providing financial support for the country’s poorest amid the pandemic – although President López Obrador says they are assisted by his administration’s various welfare and social programs – and called into question its stated commitment to “the poor come first.”

The instinct of a government that uses such a slogan should have been to help that segment of the population but it turned its back of them instead, he said. “Nothing is being done to protect this population,” Székely added.

Source: Reforma (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A small plane flies over the ocean

How the Mexican security minister’s slip of the tongue rankled Salvadoran President Bukele

2
President Bukele took exception after García Harfuch's identified a drug-smuggling plane as coming from El Salvador.
gold bars

Highway robbery near Guadalajara nets 6 million pesos worth of gold and silver

0
Such open-road heists have risen in frequency recently and could pose a threat to potential investors otherwise attracted by nearshoring opportunities.
Security chief Omar García Harfuch, Attorney General Gertz and other Mexian officials sit on a stage in front of a banner reading "National Strategy against Extortion" in spanish

Authorities launch national strategy against extortion to tackle a pernicious and widespread crime

1
The strategy contemplates new laws that would force states to investigate the crime, even when victims are too afraid to make an official report.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity