down from 34 percent two decades earlier. The rural population is not distributed equally throughout the country. For example, in the South region, nearly 47 percent of the population lives in rural areas, a total of more than 6.8 million people. Mexico’s rural population increased by 0.6 percent per year during the 1990s. Not all regions followed the same population growth pattern of the total country. In the North region, the rural population actually diminished by 0.1 percent annually during 1990-2000. In the Capital region, the difference in the population growth rate between rural and urban areas was the smallest in Mexico and the rural population expanded at 1.5 percent annually. The population growth rates in the poor South and Gulf regions were in line with the national average during the last decade.

The demographic change that demands the most urgent policy response is the growth in the economically active population in rural areas. During 1990–2000 the number of those aged 12 to 64 rose by more than 300,000 (0.6 percent). The growth rate is low primarily due to out-migration. Migration is important in rural Mexico. Mostly young people leave their village in search for employment and find work in a wide variety of economic sectors, either in Mexico or in the U.S. Personal contacts and social networks are decisive factors in the search for work. Of the 2.3 million hired farm workers in Mexico, around 1.4 million are migrants, most of whom range in age from the early 20’s to the mid-30’s. The migration of farm workers within Mexico follows three main routes, generally from communities of origin in the south to farm operators in the north. Along the Pacific coast, migrants work seasonally in the production of fruits and sugar cane, and year-round in vegetable production. In North-Central Mexico migrant workers help produce key crops such as cotton, apples, and various vegetables (primarily between August and January). Along the Gulf coast, farm operators employ migrants to produce sugar cane, cotton, oranges, and coffee, except during July-September. Moreover, migrant workers send money back to their families and these remittances accounted for more than 10 percent of total household income in 2002 (Verner 2004).

Poverty analyses reveal that many rural workers in Mexico, particularly those in the informal sector and agriculture, are poor. The challenge of creating employment is therefore not only to provide new jobs for the new entrants to the labor force, but also to increase the number of jobs that are able to provide sufficient income to lift the employee’s household out of poverty or cushion against it. Creating jobs regardless of quality is not enough—people need good jobs. As the labor market, particularly the informal one, is relatively flexible, the worry is about generating sufficient income via employment rather than simply having a job. Since 1999 the trend in this regard is encouraging as reflected by the recent increasing real wages of unskilled workers (with incomplete or no education) — (see below).

# **Agriculture, Land, and Rural Living**

Although nearly half of Mexico's total land area is officially classified as agricultural, only 12 percent of the total area is cultivated. This is one of many factors driving migration and off-farm employment in rural Mexico. In the early 1990s, 80 3