Conditions for Rural Mobility and Migration of Indigenous Day Laborers in Mexico

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of the living conditions of indigenous populations on their insertion into precarious labor markets and the limited mobility opportunities they offer. The article’s quantitative methodological strategy combines micro data on indigenous day laborers from the 2009 National Survey of Day Laborers with the marginalization indexes of the Council of National Population (CONAPO), thus generating adequate indicators for the studied population. Through this data, the article illustrates the limitations imposed on the indigenous day laborers in terms of geographical isolation, lack of job opportunities, and insufficient access to education. The article argues that the combination of these limitations constitutes the main explanation for migration as an alternative for survival. Due to the economic inability of these populations’ localities to offer labor mobility, the indigenous population is forced into an employment strategy controlled by powerful agricultural businessmen, who take advantage of these laborers’ deficit in formal education, their poverty, and their insufficient command of Spanish to keep their wages low.