The Role of COVID-19 in Molding the Economy and Social Inequity of Mexican Households

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply influenced the economy of all nations, and Mexico is no exception. This effect is distinct for different groups of the population, with variable socio-economic and demographic characteristics, that live in regions of contrasting features. An efficient apparatus for measuring expenditure variations and tendency is the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey performed by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in accordance with the international standardization established at the Canberra Conference; the latter permits, every two years, for different surveys to be comparable in time and space. Hence, in Mexico, there are three surveys for 2018, 2020, and 2022. The results of the comparison indicate that different groups of the Mexican population have experienced the pandemic with multiple impacts, apparently without large proportional variation regarding expenditure but with greater variation in time-use conditions. Moreover, it became apparent that even though the lower strata of Mexico’s population have fewer proportional variations concerning income after the COVID-19 outburst, they must incorporate more family members into working activities to achieve a survival line; the latter results in the abandonment of school from various young household members that will negatively impact the quality of their lives in the long term.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• household expenditure
• pandemic
• inequity