Dispatches International
are prepared from college and those who are unprepared.” In addition to conven-
tional classes at her university, Reyes enrolled in others, train- ing to improve her skills: French language, photography, and cre- ative writing. She says she prob- ably spent around $10,000 MXN, or $750 USD, per month on living expenses while she was studying because she was a foreign stu- dent. But now she has to deal with job offers that are paying less than that per month. Reyes says she could live with such a low salary; what is really bother- ing her is that many companies are paying about the same sala- ries to people who studied and people who didn’t even finish their college education. Sometimes young profes-
sionals like Reyes also have to deal with scammers and con-art- ists taking advantage of the glut of educated, unemployed youth in Mexico. “Many companies pub- lish ‘phantom vacancies’,” she says. These companies appear legitimate and will put recruits through training over the course of a few weeks. “Then they ask for people to put forward some money for ‘paperwork,’ and in the end there is no job, and the company disappears.” But with so many young professionals desperate for work, scammers promoting phantom vacancies are able to make a decent living. The Secretary of Public Ed-
ucation in Mexico found the av- 76
erage monthly salary of college graduates to be about $7,500 MXN, or $560 USD, despite the fact that they have eight years of further education. With this average salary, along with the stories of the previously quoted young professionals in mind, it is worth considering the case of Ana Solís Cazares. She is a 30-year-old woman who watches over the cars of shoppers in Mex- ico City in exchange for some coins. Cazares says she earns about $200 MXN each day, but a bit more on weekends since there are more people driving downtown. Her daily earnings add up to $6,000 MXN, or $450 USD, per month. This is almost the same as the average salary level of university graduates. It would be folly to sug-
gest that young, well-educated professionals in Mexico might be tempted into becoming beg- gars. But some university stu- dents have suggested that this is the case, or will be soon if at- tractive jobs are not created. “In Mexico, you find peo-
ple with a home, with a family, retired, elderly, or young men and women equally, even stu- dents, on the streets,” says Jazz- mind Anayantzin Sanchez Gar- rido. She is 26 years old and a member of a generation of Mexi- can university students who are unable to find jobs. “These students and young people on the streets, they are begging for money.”
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