From the perspective of most Mexicans, who continue to suffer under the intensified adjustment program on which the bailout was conditioned, and of Mexican economists and citizens' organizations that relate to the real economy, their country remains in serious economic straits. The best that can be said is that the level of suffering and economic insecurity of the majority of the population has stabilized for the moment. At the same time, however, the core of Mexico's economy has been gutted, the same conditions that created the 1994 crash are reappearing, and the country has been destabilized from the streets of Mexico City to the mountains of Chiapas. Domestic productive capacity has collapsed. With domestic demand still low, interest rates still high and barriers to imports falling, there has so far been no recovery in this core sector of the Mexican economy.
Massive unemployment persists.
Two million people lost their jobs in the economic collapse, leaving one third of the economically active population of nearly 30 million workers unemployed or in precarious jobs. Some 1.8 million peasants have been forced to leave their homes in search of work. The absence of unemployment benefits has exacerbated this crisis. The government recently announced the creation of a million new jobs in 1997, but with anyone working one day per month classified officially as employed, it is difficult to determine the significance of this figure. Wages have fallen precipitously.