at least one member without education or education below the 7th grade. 40 percent of people in the states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Guerrero have education below the 7th grade. Low quality public education It is difficult to speak of progress anywhere, with such alarming educational lag figures, Mexico has been fighting for years against teacher unions that ask for a lot and give a little in return, that is why the quality of public education is far below of what it should be. It is difficult to access public education, and not very efficient. This is a serious problem because a low-quality early education translates into a poor human development index (HDI), which in turn shows low achievement and no expectations of personal and professional growth in the future, which generates the famous poverty trap. Underemployment Getting an education does not immediately translate to landing better paying jobs or overcoming underemployment in Mexico: According to data compiled by the Civic Observatory for Education, fewer than 20% of recent graduates manage to find an appropriate position during their first round of job-hunting. Although the country has made great strides in education and professional training, the absence of a serious employment policy means that economic expansion is sacrificed so that higher prices can be avoided. That exerts a negative impact on the labor market in both the short and medium term, and on new professionals most of all. Situations like this have caused the standard of living among the urban middle class to deteriorate and as a consequence brings on emigration from this sector to other countries, mainly the United States and Canada. Mexico has an extensive infrastructure of informal economics, which further complicates the measurement of unemployment, as people involved in these jobs are not considered unemployed, while not being officially employed either (ex. housemaids, street sellers, artisans). It is estimated that 59% of the jobs in the country belong to the informal economy. Birth Rate, Contraception and Life Expectancy Although Mexico's birth rate has been consecutively declining since the 1970, its population growth still exceeds its ability to pull people out of abject poverty. Contraception is widely used, despite it being a hot-button political and religious issue. Contraception is provided through a government-sponsored program called Mexfam. The average life expectancy has drastically increased from 60 years in 1968, to 77 years in 2012. Rural areas still have