Faces of the Crisis

Antonio, Taxi Driver,
Oaxaca, Mexico

When asked if anybody in his household had lost their job in the last 6 months, Antonio, a taxi driver, responded: “Yes, my mother, there were layoffs at the hotel where she worked as a chambermaid. They recently called her to go back as casual work, but she had no work for 3 months. I work as a taxi driver for an employer; I do not have cars of my own.” Antonio and his mother are the breadwinners in their household of 10 people, which includes 4 children under 16. When asked whether the number of taxi drivers in Oaxaca City has changed, Antonio said “Yes, because tourism dropped. First due to the swine flu and then due to the [economic] crisis, the drop of foreign tourists has been much noticed and we depend on them. Mexico has a very bad reputation with crime, travelers no longer want to visit, therefore, there isn’t much work. The number of workers has dropped because there is no revenue, so they stop driving [taxis] and look [for work] elsewhere. They go work as vendors in stalls because there is not much industry. Others return to their villages to seek for work. The owner of the cars is forced to work so that the cars continue to be in circulation, and because we are paid by the day, my boss had to ask several of my peers to stop coming to work for some weeks and well, what can we do ... we endure and search elsewhere. Fortunately, he [employer] didn’t ask me to stop working because I have been working for him for a while now.”

When asked about price changes in the last 6 months, Antonio noted that a ride from the airport to the city used to cost 130 pesos. “Now, for the same route, from the airport to downtown, we charge 100 pesos (USD 7.7), people are more careful with their money and look around for prices to find the cheapest fare”.

Antonio was used to being the main wage earner, but his family had to adjust to the new situation. “First, I had to ask my wife to work so that we could afford to pay for our costs and luckily she found work in a pharmacy selling products [at the counter]. Unfortunately, we had to ask a niece to take care of our baby because my wife works the afternoon and night shifts. They do not pay her much, but at least it’s something. I also had to ask for an eight-month loan to help my boss service a car. A while ago, a group of friends and I got together so we can make loans when someone needs money, and we only charge 2 per cent interest, because the banks do not lend to us and no one has credit. There are many businesses that offer loans here in Oaxaca, but if you borrow from them, you can end up losing your house. In a good week I used to earn up to 800 pesos (USD 60) but we are 10 [people] at home. In a bad week? Gosh! Lately, this has been my story, I earn around 400 pesos (USD 30). There were days when we only had one customer per day, and other weeks I didn’t bring anything home and well, in desperation I asked my wife to work because there are many children and mouths to feed. I used to buy my kids their cans of milk so that they could take those to school, and there is no longer enough money for that, now they drink tea or coffee at the house and take some bread to school. I worry because they can’t concentrate [in school], and then they come home hungry and there’s not enough food to offer them at home. There are days in which we only eat vegetable soup and we used to add meat to it before, but that is no longer possible. The good news is that my wife has worked nearly two months at the pharmacy, as she used to work at a clinic and learned a little.”

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