As we move around Guatemala, we see a variety of life. There are people here who work so hard to make a living and there are people who have life made because of the position they have made for themselves or that their families were able to give them. Here are some of the wages and hours people work to make ends meet.
One man in his late thirties spends 16 hour days running deliveries of snack foods to small tiendas across the city. In the mean time his wife works at a radio station. They live with their children in a small house attached to his parents house.
A 28-year-old single mother of two children under 3 years works 7-hour days, six days a week and earns her meals and 800 Quetzales a month. That’s about US$104 or about $27 a week.
In the capital, Guatemala City, Yellow taxi drivers (secure and metered taxis) make about 200-300 Quetzales ($26-$39) a day while White taxi drivers (cheaper but less secure) make about 100 Quetzales a day ($13) and those are long days of about 13 or 14 hours.
It’s not uncommon to see families working multiple jobs to keep the family supplied with finances. It may be a side business, renting out a room, selling food, or doing laundry. The innovative Guatemalans try keeping their families fed.
These salaries are from the two largest cities in the country.
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