The drop that spilled the glass in tourism in Quintana Roo, Mexico

Job insecurity and COVID-19

Abstract

Job insecurity has been an instrument that has strengthened the neoliberal economic model. In Mexico, the conditions for its implementation were established since 2012, through the Federal Labor Law. The quality of employment in the tourism sector has the disadvantage of being seasonal, without benefits, excessive hours, and flexible, among others. Thus, the companies transferred certain expenses to the hands of the workers, specially the one related to health services access. The health contingency established in the month of March 2020 in the Mexican territory caused the job insecurity to be notorious, as the recommendation of the State called “healthy distance” was not respected, due to the unemployment after the closure of non-essential activities. The purpose of this document is to reflect on how the precarious employment of the tourism sector has caused the state of Quintana Roo to position itself as one of the entities with the highest number of infections per capita.