Hmmm. It’s been a long time, but the last time I was in Mexico, I recall being told that the real unemployment rates were quite a bit worse than the official numbers, and that finding a job at all was nearly impossible without a connection, e.g., a family member of close friend working at a particular place and having the ability to hire you.
I dunno, if Mexico had more opportunities than the US, you’d think that, first, the cartels would be less of an issue (joining a gang isn’t as tempting if you can find a decent job), and second, you wouldn’t have a lot of people trying to emigrate to the from Mexico. I just heard a story today about highly trained engineers leaving Mexico for jobs in a Kia (or Hyundai?) plant in the US, where they ended up being relegated to menial, manual labor; you’d think that if unemployment was really as low the official numbers say that it would be pretty easy to get an engineering job in Mexico.