The economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting the income received by Mexican families and in terms of employment it is affecting younger people, reveals a survey conducted by the Institute for Research for Development with Equity (Equide ) of the Iberoamerican University.
“One in three households reported a loss of 50% or more of their income compared to February,” said Graciela Teruel, director of Equide in a videoconference to present the Covid Impact on the well-being of the Mexican population survey.
He mentioned that, in a survey that was carried out between April 6 and 14 among just over 800 people 18 years of age or older, 61.6% of households reported that during the third month of the year they obtained a lower income than February. “Among households reporting that they received a lower income in March, the drop was an average of 48 percent.”
The Equide director revealed that 37.7% of the most vulnerable households answered that one or more of its members lost their job or some other source of income.
“The population with a lower socioeconomic level is much more likely to lose their source of employment, in addition, the poorest tend to be the most losers in terms of employment,” he said.
Young people, the most affected in employment
According to Equide, in the first fortnight of April between 5.2 and 8.1 million people reported having lost their job, being sent to “rest” or unable to go out looking for a job due to the contingency.
“Just to measure, between October and December 2019, with official data, this figure was equivalent to 1.9 million people who were unemployed, this implies an unemployment rate between 8.2 and 13.2%, which is the unemployment rate in the region of Latin America estimated by Cepal ”.
These unemployment rates are higher in the younger population, he said. “If we see, the highest unemployment rate is among people between 25 and 34 years of age and later among young people between 18 and 24 years of age; always in crisis there are people who do worse and in this case it is young people. ”
Not everyone can shelter
It is important to mention that only 45% of the households in the sample reported having the necessary resources to comply with the Sana Distancia Day until April 30, which was the first date set by the authorities.
“Among the main causes of not being able to comply with these measures, that is, of taking shelter, 90.4% said it was due to the need to go out to work or look for a job.”
When questioned about their expectations for the next 30 days in terms of income, 25.7% answered that some of the family members would reduce their income; on average, they expect it to decrease by 54.8 percent.
Mental health
The Equide director indicated that respondents were also asked about how they felt about the confinement and the pandemic. “About 29% of people in our sample identified with depressive symptoms. Likewise, 32.4% of the population 18 years of age or older have severe symptoms of anxiety ”.
The specialist explained that this survey is the first survey and the idea is that, one can be done every month for a year to have accurate and consistent data and thus be able to carry out public policies that are adequate to face the crisis facing the country.
Given these results, Teruel considered it essential to establish a policy that focuses on preserving sources of employment and guaranteeing a minimum level of well-being for all households, especially those where its members are in the informal sector of the economy. In addition, he proposed that transfers be made to low-income households of at least 5,000 pesos a month per month.
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