The latest census figures estimate the country's population at about124 million. Although the official employment rate is less than 5 percent, it's no secret that most workers earn inadequate wages--a dollar a day or less. Some days a lot less; some days nothing at all. Still, through a kind of magical thinking by government statisticians, they're not classified as unemployed.
Thus, there are lots and lots of people these days--particularly young men--who are more than happy to tackle heavy-duty work here at home. They're the ones who used to sneak up north before the great recession hit and those particular types of U.S. jobs evaporated.
Visit any construction site here in Mexico. For an observant American of a certain age, it's a trip down memory lane.You see picks and shovels. Hand trowels and sledge hammers. Handsaws and prybars. Axes and hammers. Chisels and screwdrivers and wrenches. You see ropes and pulleys. You see hoes and rakes and straw brooms.You see little men lugging ungainly construction materials from one place to another, a little like circus performers.
There's scant evidence of mechanized equipment, bulldozers, excavators, power shovels, backhoes, tractors, tower cranes, jack hammers, cement mixers, diesel-powered road rollers, pneumatic nail guns, gas-powered blowers, etc.
Nearly everything is done by hand--many hands, ceaselessly working. The scene resembles a manic anthill. Just yesterday, I spotted a dozen workers dismantling and lowering a gargantuan promotional billboard, using some ropes, a 6x6 wooden beam, and pure physical effort. It's a miracle nobody got creamed.
The labor may be backbreaking and the pay not great, but at least workers get to take some pesos home to the family. Stacks of tortillas and bags of beans are needed for households of six or more; maybe a little chicken or pork, as well.
Most Americans think food is cheap in Mexico, so nobody's getting hurt by workers' low pay. Food isn’t cheap. Tortillas and beans are partially subsidized by the government, but who can live on that regimen for long? Yet, many impoverished Mexicans do.
In San Miguel, the stonemasons work long hours. They're building new bus stops throughout the city. Laborers heft huge rocks down from the flatbed, chip at them for hours with hammer and chisel, set them in place, construct the support molds of wood, mix the mortar and concrete by hand, and slather stone upon stone, until foundation and wall are complete.
For the rebar to support poured concrete beams, laborers painstakingly twist bands of steel with hand pliers--one support at a time. Hundreds are needed, thousands even. It's magic to see. And I haven't spotted an industrial cement mixer yet.
Some people think Mexicans are bad workers; lazy and unreliable and dishonest. It's not true. Mexicans are some of the hardest workers anywhere. They toil long hours and you don't hear any bitching on the job. Nobody talks about human dignity or workers’ rights. They're all too busy making a living, the old-fashioned way.
© 2014 Tony DeCrosta
Contact me at adecrosta@gmail.com
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