Wages in southern Mexico (pesos, buy, salary, quality of life)
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I'm curious what the "typical" person makes in Oaxaca or one of the southern states would make.
I know what the "average" wage is in Mexico but due to the geographic differences and the grotesque gap between the rich and the poor, "averages" mean very little.
If someone were to say they got a job with a 'OK' wage in Oaxaca, what exactly would they be talking about? I know what the horridly low minimum wage is but do many people actually make 73 pesos a day working a Mexican 48 hour work week?
I guess what I am asking is what would the median wage be in Oaxaca where 50% make more and 50% make less as it's a far better gage reality than average wages which are completely warped by the extremely wealthy.
Also when a person works 48 hours a week do they typically work 9 hours in one day over 5 days or 8 hours a day over 6 days?
when i first got here, i got a job at the post office cleaning.
working 12 hour days, 6 days a week and making 500 pesos/week. (minimum wage)
i had to pay out of my own pocket for the transportation because it just wasn't enough to survive on.
my next job, i got at a Brokerage Company.
here i made 1,500/week + Bonus.
working 9 hour days, 5 days/week, w/weekends off.
some weeks my bonus was 30,000 pesos.
depends on how much you sell/transact.
this job is very rare.. and you must know English.
I would not work for anything less than 1,000/week.
Anything more is gravy, anything less and you can't survive.
English is a must for a good paying job.
Bilingual is even better.
not sure .. oaxaca is only a 4 - 5 hour bus ride.
so it can't be that much different.
i'd assume there wouldn't be as many English jobs there..
i only passed through Oaxaca, didn't stay for very long.
saw the abundance of Gringos & Gringas, especially at night time the Gringas came out and did their slutty thing, and had to bounce A.S.A.P.
Thanks for the reply but you are in Mexico City are you not? I would assume you would make more in MC than Oaxaca.
Mexico City is a completely different economic reality.
Mooguy, if you're teaching English search for info on the forums (like Dave's ESL Cafe) to get an idea. My info is dated (late 90s/ early 2000s), but I made about half as much in Oaxaca as I did in DF. Then again, housing and just about everything else was so much cheaper and quality of life (IMO) was better.
Mexicans, like those in many countries, work 6 days a week. Wikipedia actually has an interesting page on average salary and other stats of countries around the world. Turns out, 40 hrs. a week is NOT the norm - 48 is! Anyway, from having lived in MC several times and traveling a bit around the country, I can tell you that 3K or 4K pesos is the norm WHEN you see ads for jobs on phone poles or many times on indeed.com or mundoanuncio, etc. I remember the very first time I was in Mexico, I was in Durango (northwest) and I saw an ad on a pole for some low job that paid $2 or 3K a month. When I did the math, I was shocked. I lived in Ags. 10 years ago (it's 6 hrs. north of MC) and happened to find out first hand that Walmart paid their employees what came out to be about $1.05 an hour - and that was considered to be very good pay. However, I believe Ags. has a higher standard of living than the southern portion of the country. But in essence, there's a reason why poor people are poor.
As for myself, I am not interested in what I as an English teacher would make.........I am going to Oaxaca strictly for4 volunteer work. I am simply curious what the "typical" Oaxacan makes in a month. I have been to MC, Guadalajara, and Oaxaca as so I know all 3 quite well and MC certainly has always struck me as a totally different world socially and economically from either of the other 2 or the rest of the country for that matter.
Again, I'm just curious if the minimum wage is common pay for people in the area or what a typical Oaxacan makes. I know I can look up average wages for Mexico or even the individual states but that means precious little in a country with such a grotesque gap between the rich and the poor.
As for myself, I am not interested in what I as an English teacher would make.........I am going to Oaxaca strictly for4 volunteer work. I am simply curious what the "typical" Oaxacan makes in a month. I have been to MC, Guadalajara, and Oaxaca as so I know all 3 quite well and MC certainly has always struck me as a totally different world socially and economically from either of the other 2 or the rest of the country for that matter.
Again, I'm just curious if the minimum wage is common pay for people in the area or what a typical Oaxacan makes. I know I can look up average wages for Mexico or even the individual states but that means precious little in a country with such a grotesque gap between the rich and the poor.
it's not so much the pay.. but the amount of hours. ie. to make minimum wage, a person usually has to work 12 hour days, 6 days a week.
which doesn't give them any time for anything else, such as look for a better job, family, etc.
12 hour work days are common here.
i honestly don't know how Mexicans can afford to buy cars or homes.
the wage is so crappy here.
and inflation is horrible.
ie. Marlboro is $45 Pesos!
- now people would say.. well that's Pesos..
- true.. but they treat the Pesos as Dollars for your wage!
This is why Mexicans work so hard and will do anything for money.
And they're a national company w/hundreds of employees.
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