make your own job, says mexico's economy minister

i like the spirit of the message that mexico's economy minister delivered in a radio address recently. it's the sort of bootstrapping that is all-too-frequently choked off by regulation, though. (imagine the health code violations! the zoning regulation violations! the taxes and license fees being uncollected! who will protect the children?)

mexico's official unemployment figure is quite low (3.17%) compared with that of the united states (6.4%), but they are apparently measured differently. mexico measures it as people older than 12 who have searched for work, but have not worked more than one hour a week during the month. the united states measures people over 16 who do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks, and are available for work. (actually, it's not clear to me that those are all that different.)